


Redeemable

by AssumingMinds19



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: A LONNNNNGGGGGG LONGGGGGG FIC, Adult Children, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Anger, Angst, Divorce, F/F, Future Fic, Gen, Getting Back Together, Growing Up, Hatred, Implied/Referenced Torture, Post-Canon, Redemption, Sibling Rivalry, Very Slow Progression, grown up kids, long fic, seriously, slow progression, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-08 01:58:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 185,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13448112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssumingMinds19/pseuds/AssumingMinds19
Summary: Liam hasn’t talked to his family in ten years. Of course, that tends to happen when you get broken out of prison and eventually end up bounty hunting for aliens across space. But when a job leads him back to Earth and he's captured by the DEO circumstances change.Still, everyone seems to be keen on locking him back in prison and throwing away the key.Everyone except his now divorced CEO mother, Lena Luthor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea that has been floating around in my head for a bit. Writing this along with another fic to keep myself extended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and Welcome :) Just a quick note, before you take this adventure with me. This is going to be a LONGGGGGG LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG LONGGGGGGGGGG FIC. If you’re not into major slowburn and progression, this isn’t the story for you.

Liam Luthor was not having a good day. Well, he's had his fair share of shit days before, but this one was looking to take the cake.

 

He hadn’t been back on Earth in nine years, completely by choice, but this bounty had been too good to pass up. A million credits and he was sitting pretty for the rest of his extended life. He could set up on an artificial beach on Redox Station and start drinking in time for his next birthday. He just couldn’t help himself. The hellgrammite was wanted for the murder of some princess, and her daddy was willing to pay the big bucks for the opportunity to slice its head off himself. So Liam had followed it to Earth and had touched down ground side on the blue planet for the first time in years.

 

But even he should have been smart enough to retreat when the bug went to the one place on Earth Liam really didn’t want to go. 

 

National City.

 

Home to Superwoman, Supergirl and most of his extended family. 

 

The whole thing was just so… super.

 

But the money was too tempting. He figured he’d hang low, fly under the radar. He had managed to corner the hellgrammite, which he'd nicknamed Bill, under some abandoned building in the factory district. Bill had built himself a cozy little lair, filled with his various chemical trophies which the dark-haired man took great pleasure in shooting while listening to Bill’s roars of anguish.

 

It was only when a brick lanced with a stinger went sailing over his head that he noticed it.

 

Kryptonite.

 

Oh fuck. 

 

The DEO tracked Kryptonite these days. And if it was here, they couldn’t be far behind.

 

Just as the thought of fleeing entered his mind, the proximity alarms he set up went off and and black clad agents swarmed the scene grappling Bill and holding up what seemed like a billion guns in Liam’s face.

 

“Alright, alright. Calm fucking down.” The big man said placing his own custom gun on the ground with regret. He had built that baby from scratch and it had been as much a part of his life for five years as sleeping. He’d even managed to recover it after a misunderstanding with a judge who had walked in and found Liam with his wife in bed. But now Liam was convinced that he would never see his baby girl again. It’d be confiscated and used by some government stooge to play with. Good thing it was keyed to his genes, nobody will ever use his baby but him.

 

Liam got on his knees and put his hands over his head. There was no way he was fighting his way out of this one, and his ship was too far way to make a run for it. What a stupid stupid idiot. He should’ve known this would end badly.

 

Somebody was putting glowy handcuffs on him when the middle aged red headed woman opposite him took off her mask.

 

“Liam?” She said in incredulous shock.

 

The bounty hunter gave her a weak grin before replying.

 

“Hi Auntie Alex.”

 

The woman’s eyes narrowed and Liam sighed closing his eyes.

 

Definitely not a good day.

 

* * *

 

Lena was not having a good day.

She woke up alone, like she had been doing for the past five years since her divorce and checked her phone and email. Only a few messages from work and her daughter still hadn’t returned her phone call from last week. Not that she had been expecting anything less. Kia and her had a strained relationship for years now, though not for Lena’s lack of trying to keep in regular contact.

Still, on her down days, she couldn’t help but find it ironic how similar her situation was to Lillian's.

Estranged daughter. Missing and presumed dead son.

That last one in particular squeezed her heart. Liam would’ve been turning twenty eight next week. Like every year since he'd been gone, Lena would mark the occasion by lighting a candle on a cupcake and bringing it down to their favourite spot in the park that he’d loved so much when he was a child. Right outside the zoo he begged Kara to take him through every weekend. Something the blonde had only been too happy to do, eagerly swinging the giggling boy over her shoulders while they laughed at the penguin exhibits.

 

_“Look mama! They’re walking funny!” Her dark haired boy yelled excitedly, pulling at Kara’s hair._

 

_“And they’re wearing tuxedos, can you see Liam?” The blonde replied, hiding her wince at having her hair nearly torn out by an overly excited toddler._

 

_“Tuck see does?”_

 

_“Close darling, tuxedos,” Lena added, slipping her hand into her wife’s free one while Kara gave her a look of pure love._

 

_“Tuxedos,” Liam finished confidently._

 

_“I knew he would get it fast Lee. He really is your son,” Kara said adoringly rolling her eyes back in her head trying to see the dark haired, green eyed, mini version of Lena._

 

_The CEO leant in for a quick kiss before replying._

 

_“He’s our son.”_

 

Of course, times like that were long over and dead. Kara barely acknowledged that Liam had existed these days, not that Lena would know. The handful of meetings they’d had since the divorce had been tense to say the least, Lena didn’t really feel like bringing up the painful topic that had helped to end their marriage. 

 

Still, it would’ve been nice to celebrate their son’s birthday together.

 

The rest of the day followed in gloomy fashion. She fired her third assistant of the month for being totally incompetent. God she missed Jess, but she had promoted her assistant long ago for time served. She yelled at three investors and had to endure a torturous board meeting and another equally boring meeting with her advertising department. 

 

She ended up skipping lunch, something she did frequently these days as Kara didn’t fly by to remind her and headed down to R and D to oversee one of the new projects they were working on before heading back to her office and working on more paperwork.

 

She jolted with a start when her phone began to ring. It was ten thirty at night, she was here later than she thought. She picked up her mobile and raised her eyebrow in surprise at the contact name she hadn’t see on that screen in many years.

 

“Alex?” She answered uncertainly.

 

“Lena. You need to come into the DEO right now.” Alex’s brisk tone sounded.

 

Lena stood up and rapidly gathered her coat and purse.

 

“What happened?” She asked with panic in her voice, “Is someone hurt?”

 

Images of Kara and Kia splattered bloody on a gurney flashed through her mind.

 

“No. Nothing like that.” Alex sounded.

 

“Then what’s going on Alex,” Lena asked calming down. “I haven’t been to the DEO in years.”

 

“Just come in now Lena,” the red headed woman snapped before hanging up.

 

Lena stared down at her phone in shock and annoyance. Who did Alex think she was, talking to her like that? Part of her was tempted to ignore the phone call, but she knew Alex wouldn’t have made it if Lena really didn’t need to be there.

 

She sighed as she texted her driver and made her way down to the lobby in the elevator.

 

Today really wasn’t her day.

 

* * *

 

Lena’s driver dropped her off outside the familiar building. How many times had Lena been here when she and Kara were still married? She remembered bringing the kids to meet their mother after Lena finished work. She remembered her first, highly unconventional ultrasound which Alex herself conducted in this building. But she hadn’t been here in a long time, and she felt nothing but coldness when she entered. The agents behind the front desks called down her ex-sister-in-law to meet her in the lobby. She looked older than Lena remembered, but so did she probably. The agent had streaks of grey in her hair and the wrinkles around her eyes were more pronounced.

 

“Lena. Follow me.” She said tightly before marching back into the elevator while Lena followed with two agents flanking her. The elevator ride was awkward and tense, but when the CEO went to open her mouth to ask Alex again what she was doing here she was thrown a hard glare.

 

What the hell was happening?

 

She was walked out of the elevator and onto the main floor where she was led through a vigorous security checkpoint. After the fifth probe prodded particularly hard at her ribs, she’d had enough.

 

“Ok, is this really necessary? I’ve been here hundreds of times!”

 

“Your clearance has expired Mom, a long time ago.” A clear voice sounded out.

 

Lena turned and was thrown back to a time when she first began dating Kara. Expect for her brown hair, Kia was the spitting image of her ex wife in that suit.

 

“Supergirl.” She acknowledged and another tense silence followed when the probing agents wrapped up.

 

“I’m sorry about not calling you back Mom,” Kia began awkwardly, “I’ve been really busy.”

 

Sure, Lena thought. Busy avoiding your mother.

 

“It’s ok. I understand.” She said instead and was rewarded with a small smile. 

 

“Can you tell me what I’m doing here though?”

 

Kia hesitated, her gaze darting to her aunt’s.

 

“Better to show you,” The woman said gruffly and grabbed Lena’s shoulder, ready to march her down to wherever they were going.

 

“I’m perfectly capable of walking thanks,” Lena bit out shrugging herself out of Alex’s grip. At least the other woman had the decency to look sheepish.

 

“Right. Well then follow me.”

 

The three women walked down another corridor together, one Lena vaguely remembered reached the holding cell area. She eyed her eldest from the corner of her eye. Alex’s poker face was far to difficult to read, but her daughter was as obvious as Kara. She looked troubled, upset and Lena thought she could detect a hint of anger. But nothing to tell her what the hell she was heading into.

 

They rounded the corner to see her ex wife, dressed in her Superwoman costume stalking towards them furiously. Even after all this time, Lena still felt her heart ache at the site of the beautiful woman who looked barely a day over forty. Still, when Kara’s eyes hit Lena’s they took on an even madder edge.

 

“What the hell is she doing here Alex. I told you not to call her!” She shouted at her sister.

 

“She has a right to know Kara. As much as you.” The other woman said calmly back.

 

“This whole thing is ridiculous! Just put him where he deserves to be and be done with it.” 

 

“Mama-“ Their daughter tried to speak, but the older woman cut her off.

 

“I don’t want to hear it!” She said before placing a hand across her face and shuddering.

 

“I just need five minutes.” She finished before nearly sprinting down the hall.

 

As the sounds of her footsteps faded, Lena tuned back to her daughter who had a pained expression on her face.

 

“ _Now_ can you tell me what’s going on?”

 

Kia didn’t answer but kept moving forward.

 

They rounded the next corner and stopped. Lena took in the site of the occupied cell. A man was standing with his back to them. He was tall and broad and was wearing a funny looking jacket. He had dark hair that was messily cropped around his ears. Lena was about to again ask what she was doing here when he turned around. Then she nearly collapsed on the ground.

 

His face looked almost exactly like Lex’s had at his age. Sharp angles and a strong jaw. But there were differences. His eyes while clouded in a similar darkness, lacked the edge of madness Lex had in his. He had a full head of wavy hair and scruffy beard adorned his jaw. But there was something in his face that reminded Lena of her little boy. Something undeniably… hers. She recognised him instantly.

 

“Oh my God, Liam?” She said rushing forward and placing her hand on the glass between them, tears falling down her face.

 

The familiar stranger stared at her blankly for a few seconds before his eyes softened. He walked forward slowly and imitated Lena’s action, placing his own hand against hers through the glass.

 

“Hi Mom.”

 

* * *

 

Lena was only allowed a few seconds of staring with her son before the shutters were closed and she was dragged back down the corridor by Alex and Kia into a conference room where J’onn and Kara were already waiting. She was in shock admittedly, she had only just begun accepting in the last few years that her boy really was gone and now suddenly he was standing locked in a cell less than a hundred feet from her.

 

She slumped down into a chair and someone placed a glass of water in front of her.

 

“So what are we thinking,” Her ex spoke talking to J’onn, “Clone? Shapeshifter?”

 

Lena almost spat out her water. What?

 

J’onn frowned down at the table crossing his arms across his chest.

 

“He has a strong mind. If can’t read it very well, but from what I can tell, no. He isn’t a clone. That really is your son in there.”

 

Superwoman’s face turned furious.

 

“My son,” she spat, “Is dead. He died ten years ago. That….person isn’t him.”

 

Alex, Kia and J’onn all nodded as if agreeing with her and Lena’s shock and joy at seeing Liam again turned to ash in her mouth.

 

“What did you say?” Lena said cold fury lacing her words as she rose from her seat. J’onn and Kia seemed to withdraw into the wall and Alex began looking for an exit. Lena and Kara’s fights were legendary at the DEO. And the one’s regarding Liam were particularly explosive. It felt like they had been flung back in time a decade, to when they had this very conversation. Expect this time, Lena wasn’t going to weathered down. No person, government agency or family member was going to stop her this time. 

 

Kara’s face turned to her and Lena yelled loudly.

 

“What the fuck did you just say!”

 

Her ex wife’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline, Lena rarely swore.

 

“You may have given up on our son ten years ago, but I didn’t. But I did fail him. I should have fought harder. I won’t fail him now.” She said determinedly.

 

“Lena, I know this is hard-“ Alex began.

 

“You don’t know Alex! You’ve never lost a child! And all because you didn’t have the strength to fight, for what you knew in your heart was right!”

 

“You think it didn’t kill me Lena? To see a boy I’d held in my arms the day he was born be taken away in chains! The kid who used to think I was his favourite person in the world, looking at me like I was the devil! But Kara’s right that boy is gone.”

 

Lena shook her head and Kara continued the barrage.

 

“We’ve simply recaptured a felon. He needs to go back to prison where he can’t hurt anyone.”

 

“You mean that illegal government black site? Not happening! It’s been ten years! Who knows what he’s been through.” Lena sounded.

 

“We know enough.” Kia said grimly, speaking for the first time. 

 

“We scanned him when he came in, he’s been modified Mom. Cadmus tech.”

 

Lena stared at her daughter in silence, before shaking her head again.

 

“That doesn’t mean anything-“

 

“Dear Rao Lena, when will you learn to see what is in front of your face! It means everything! He’s Cadmus.” Her ex shouted at her.

 

“It’s been ten years Kara, we don’t know what he’s been through. What has changed. Maybe he's a different person, maybe he isn't. But he's still Liam. You were the one who taught me to believe in the best in people. I believe in my son.”

 

Superwoman stared at her and Lena could’ve sworn she felt a hint of longing in her gaze.

 

_“Kia’s finally asleep. I had to read her three stories before she would stop hovering,” Kara said fondly crawling into bed while her wife read a book beside her._

 

_“Yes,” Lena said affectionately putting her book down and rubbing her protruding belly._

 

_“For the last week she’s insisted on staying up, just in case she misses meeting her little brother for the first time.”_

 

_Kara leaned over a place a kiss on Lena’s stomach._

 

_“I love listening to his heartbeat. Yours and his together. It’s the most relaxing sound in the world.” She said with a sigh, placing her hand over Lena’s and staring into her eyes with an overwhelming amount of love._

 

_Lena laced their fingers together and Kara’s lips captured hers in a kiss. Her wife then pulled away leaned over Lena’s stomach again and whispered._

 

_“You’re going to do great things little man. I know it.”_

 

“I believed in him once too Lena,” The blonde’s voice cracked out.

 

Lena’s face softened and she continued gently.

 

“Let me talk to him, please.”

 

“Lena he can’t be trusted. We don’t know-“ Alex began.

 

“If you want me to let him go back to that place, I need to talk to him. I need to know who is... I won’t erase him without knowing. Please." She finished pleadingly.

 

Silence ensued before J'onn nodded.

 

"Ok." The gruff man said.

 

"J'onn, you can't-"

 

The dark man held up his hand to halt Alex's protest.

 

“If it were Jaimie, you’d already have broken her out.”

 

“Jaime would never do-“

 

J’onn held up his hand again.

 

“Once upon a time, nobody though Liam would either. Let her speak to him.”

 

* * *

 

Liam’s arrival at the DEO had stopped the place moving. Everyone in the building looked on in silence and he was half tempted to make a joke to break it. He highly doubted his standing in this place could sink any lower. But he didn’t feel like being clocked in the back of the head, so he refrained and maintained his own silence through the scanning and the blood drawing. The technicians eyes widening when the pierced skin healed within seconds before their eyes. They shot Alex nervous looks and her gaze which had remained unwavering from him deepened with even more suspicion.

 

Yep, the silence was definitely his friend here. 

 

A ring of armed agents surrounded him at all times, but even if they weren’t there he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to fight. So he just sat still and followed directions. And when he was frog marched down to a holding cell, still without a word being said, he began to resign himself to the situation. 

 

He could try to escape during transit to whatever hell hole site they sent him to he guessed. It’d be difficult, but he could do it. If he could just get a message out... Gurtag would probably come if he paid him enough.

 

His musings about his escape plan were interrupted when he felt eyes on him and he turned.

 

His aunt was back, face pinched, along with two other women. 

 

He got a bit of a shock seeing his sister for the first time in years. She looked almost exactly like the old Supergirl in her costume. She didn’t look a minute older than the last time he’d seen her, though her face looked troubled and she was avoiding his gaze. 

 

Well, good to see it wasn't just awkward for just him.

 

_I hate you! I hate all of you!_

 

Liam’s mind drifted away from ancient shouts when his gaze locked on the third woman in between the others.

 

She looked older, but not enough to guess her real age. Her eyes were still as sharply green as the ones he saw in the mirror everyday. She seemed smaller than he remembered, though that was to be expected he supposed considering how much height he had gained himself. Her face looked tired and there was a deep sadness in her eyes, but that seemed to melt away when a sense of incredulous belief crossed her face.

 

“Oh my God, Liam?” She said, tears forming. 

 

She placed her hand on the glass between them and for a second Liam was unsure of how to respond. But a rush of love mixed with guilt ran through him.

 

His blank face softened and he slowly reached up his own hand to touch the glass between them.

 

“Hi Mom.” He said gently.

 

They were only allowed a few seconds of staring before he was forced to jerk his hand away as the shutters came down between them.

 

Suddenly furious, he pounded against them.

 

“Hey!” He shouted, “Let me talk to my Mom!”

 

Nothing but silence.

 

He grumbled furiously before siting on the ground leaning against the wall with his long legs sticking out in front of him. Seeing her had brought it all back, all the rage and the guilt he’d been avoiding destructively for years.

 

_“Mom please! Don’t let them take me. Mom!”_

 

_His mother pleading wordlessly with a stoic Superwoman, before collapsing in her arms._

 

_“Mom!” He cried out desperately._

 

He drew a long breath and ran his hands down his face. Ten years of bad memories. And now he was right back here.

 

It seemed like forever before the shutters opened again and he scrambled to his feet. His mom was standing alone this time outside of the glass. Her previously joyful face had a hint of wariness about it, something he was used to seeing from other people but never from her. And it hurt.

 

Even if it was deserved.

 

They stood in silence for a minute before his mother broke it.

 

“I thought you were dead.” She asked accusingly.

 

The younger man felt a phantom pain lance his chest and he rubbed the spot.

 

“I almost was. Many times actually.”

 

She stared at him blankly, but he caught a hint of worry in her gaze.

 

“Where have you been?”

 

Liam hesitated.

 

“Travelling.”

 

Lena raised an eyebrow.

 

“Internationally,” He added.

 

“How international?” She queried eyeing his jacket. The one he’d won in a bet with a Varugan Scavenger. Definitely not Gucci.

 

“Very.” He finished with a small smile.

 

She nodded again and his smile faded.

 

“Did Cadmus break you out of prison.”

 

He hesitated again, memories flashing back.

 

“Yes,” he said in a small voice.

 

She eyed him again with that hint of worry.

 

“Did they hurt you?”

 

“Yes,” he said again rubbing his chest.

 

Her eyes flickered down to his movement before landing back on his face.

 

“Are you still with them?” She said her gaze burning through him.

 

“No. Not anymore.” He said with conviction. Never again.

 

They held gazes for a while, before Lena’s eyes softened. She reached up and placed her hand on the glass between them again and Liam mimicked the action.

 

“I’ve missed you darling.” She said with a small smile, tears pooling again in the corner of her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder.” She choked out, her other hand raising to cover her face.

 

Liam had never felt a stronger urge, than to melt through the glass between them and wrap his mother in an embrace.

 

“I didn’t deserve it mom.” He said quietly.

 

“You’re my son,” she said with conviction. “Of course you did.”

 

* * *

 

“You want to what!?”

 

Lena stood solidly under Kara’s rage and fury, the rest of the rooms occupants eyeing her like she was insane.

 

“I want to take him home.” She repeated calmly.

 

“Have you completely lost your mind? This is someone whose been indoctrinated by Cadmus, been broken out of prison and has been running around doing who knows what for nearly a decade! He’s a terrorist!” 

 

“If you recall, Kara, he was never officially arrested, trialled or convicted of anything. So calling him a terrorist is completely up for debate. He was sent to a government alien Guantanamo Bay afterwards. All decided by the people in this room!”

 

Kara paused before speaking slowly, as if Lena was a child.

 

“Lena, we know he did it. And you know why he wasn’t tried publicly, he knew the entire workings of the DEO and every single superheroes secret identity throughout the enitre multiverse! We couldn’t risk it becoming public.”

 

“And yet,” Lena said speaking back just as slowly, “He has been running around for years and none of the secret information he was privy to has become public. That doesn’t seem damning to me.”

 

“He’s a member of Cadmus! He admitted it himself!”

 

“But he never admitted to any crime! And he _was_ a member of Cadmus, not anymore.”

 

“In all the time I’ve known you Lena, you’ve never been stupid. And now you want to trust the word of double agent?”

 

“For God’s sake Kara, he was never a double agent, he was an angry and confused boy.”

 

“That doesn’t change what he did.”

 

“We don’t know for sure that he-“

 

“Enough!” Their daughter sounded, cutting them both off mid argument.

 

“Mama, you need to calm down. You’re breaking the floor.”

 

Kara looked down at her feet, a spiderweb of cracks had indeed begun to form.

 

Kia turned to her other mother.

 

“Mom. Mama is right, you can’t trust him.”

 

“Darling,” Lena began gently, “I never said I trusted him, just that I believe in him. And this time, I’m going to fight for him. The same way I would fight for you.”

 

Kia’s resolve wavered under her mother’s steady gaze.

 

“This isn’t right Lena, letting him go free.” Her ex said in a calmer tone.

 

“What isn’t right,” Lena answered, “Is sending him back again to prison he may not deserve to be in. I’m not saying to let him walk away without repercussions, just that I want him to come home with me. Put all the precautions you want in place, I don’t care. I just want him home. He can start repaying the debt he owes society then. Call it rehab if you will.”

 

Alex shook her head.

 

“This is a little extreme for rehab Lena. How are you sure he’d even stay and wouldn’t try to escape. Like it or not, he has most likely been trained as a Cadmus agent. He could get out if he really tried. How would we be sure he won’t kill anyone?”

 

“Alex,” Kara began indrediously, “We can’t seriously be considering this?”

 

“I don’t know Kara. I’m trying to do the right thing. And I don’t think that it’s sending Liam back to prison. Lena’s right, he was never convicted.”

 

It was Lena’s turn to cut the blonde off.

 

“I know how to guarantee he won’t leave.” She began with a grimace.

 

* * *

 

Liam had been waiting for what felt like hours after his mother had left, not that he could tell for sure. There were no clocks in these cells so it was difficult to keep track of the time.

 

Apart of him was still reeling from seeing his mother again after so long. It hadn’t been a long conversation but Lena had assured him she would be back to see him again soon before the shutters had once again closed between them. He hoped it was the case, he didn’t want to be whisked away and then subsequently escape before he had a chance to say goodbye.

 

Again.

 

At least the last memory of his mother would be a relatively happy one this time.

 

His introspection was broken by the sound of the shutters opening up. This time, multiple people stood on the other side of the glass. 

 

J’onn, Alex, Supergirl, his mother and Superwoman.

 

Her costume had changed since the last time he had seen her. It was a darker blue, almost black, and she was wearing form fitting pants. 

 

Still, he recognised that superhero pose anywhere.

 

And the look of disgust she was sending him.

 

“Oh look, it’s a family reunion!” He said dryly.

 

The blonde’s eyes narrowed at his flippant tone.

 

“If I were you, Liam. I would take what is about to occur far more seriously.”

 

“Don’t presume to tell me what to do. You’re not my mother.” He bit back poisonously.

 

“Don’t talk to mama like that Liam,” Kia began, rising in defence.

 

“Pray then, dear sister, tell me. How should I talk to the people who threw me in prison?”

 

“That was your choice Liam. No one forced you to join Cadmus and commit those crimes.” Alex said.

 

“And what if they did?” Liam shot back. “You didn’t care to listen back then and you won’t now.”

 

“ENOUGH!” J’onn shouted cutting them all off.

 

“We’re not here to squabble. We’re here to tell _you_ ,” He said pointing to Liam, “the terms of your release.”

 

Liam hid his shock. Release? They were letting him go?

 

Well that was a one eighty.

 

“Your letting me out?” He asked.

 

J’onn shook his head and Liam felt his hopes die.

 

“Within limits.”

 

A silence ensued before Liam questioned again, “and they are…?”

 

Lena spoke for the first time.

 

“You’re in my custody. You’ll have to stay with me. And you’ll be expected to report here everyday. You’re going to be interviewed and debriefed about your time… away. They also have questions and want to perform more tests on your….modifications. The rest of the time you’ll be expected to contribute somehow to society.”

 

Liam scoffed.

 

“This is like the world’s most ridiculous parole. What will my contributing to society entail?” He asked mockingly.

 

J’onn answered.

 

“That has yet to be determined.”

 

Liam rocked back on his heels musing over the offer. It didn’t sound like a very exciting prospect, most of the faces here were looking up at him with some level of anger. He wasn’t sure he felt like being subjected to that. He could easily turn it down and make a run for it when they transferred him. Though he ached when he looked at his mother’s face. It would be nice to spend sometime with her before he left. He could stay a few weeks with her, then skip out when he wanted to.

 

“And before you get any ideas, you only have two options here Liam.” His aunt began.

 

“Either you take this deal, or you go back to prison. If you try to escape in anyway and are caught, you will go back to prison anyway. And if you try to escape and aren’t caught… well” She trailed off, being Lena from the side.

 

“Your mother has decided she will confess to the terrorism charges you are suspected of from ten years ago.”

 

Liam’s frantic gaze snapped to his mother’s stoic one.

 

“No. You can’t.” He protested.

 

“I can and I will Liam. You were never convicted. I’m a Luthor, we play dirty. I want you home. I’ll not lose you again.” She finished in a clear voice.

 

The dark haired man looked around at the other faces again. Alex and J’onn looked resigned to the plan. Kia looked worriedly between his mother and him and Kara looked furious, but was holding her tongue. 

 

He looked back at his mother’s earnest face and he had no doubt in his mind that she would do what she said.

 

“And is... Superwoman….. ok with the idea of us all living together?” He questioned.

 

“It doesn’t affect her Liam. We don’t live together anymore.”

 

This time Liam couldn’t hide his shock. His eyebrows raised and his mouth fell open.

 

“You’re separated?”

 

“Divorced actually.”

 

Divorced? Jesus. 

 

He didn’t get along well with the other woman, he hadn’t even years before his incarceration. But he knew how much she loved his mom. And how much she loved her in return.

 

He shot the blonde woman a look of dislike.

 

It was probably her fault, as with most things.

 

He looked back down at his mother and stared at her.

 

“Liam…” She began.

 

“I love you… Please, I need you to come home.”

 

He closed his eyes. What did he know from home? It wasn’t a concept he wanted to be familiar with anymore.

 

But his mother needed him.

 

He opened his eyes and smiled down at her.

 

“Ok Mom, I’ll come home."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will be both lighthearted and angsty, full disclosure. I love reading feedback, so feel free to leave your comments below!

The process of actually getting to leave the DEO took nearly a day.

 

All the blood tests, genetic scanning, physical exams and interviews (which took nine hours by itself).

 

Of course, the reason it took so long was that Liam led the conversations to endless dead ends.

 

_“He’s lying to us, he’s not taking it seriously.”_

 

_“What did you expect Kara? He’s been away for ten years and doesn’t trust us. He’s not going to spill all his secrets.”_

 

_“Then how do we know we can trust him.”_

 

_“We don’t. That’s why I have a contingency plan. Either way, we get him back or he’ll reveal the threat.”_

 

_“…you think he’ll lead us to Cadmus?”_

 

_“If he’s still an agent, yes. But I doubt it.”_

 

_“Not you too.”_

 

_“He wouldn’t throw Lena away like that. He loves her too much.”_

 

_“Once upon a time, I thought he loved me.”_

 

* * *

 

 

“How much longer is this going to take?” Liam drawled, leaning back in his chair with his legs propped up on the table.

 

Alex gave him a look of distaste, before knocking his feet back down to the floor.

 

“Did you learn your entitled behaviour from Cadmus? I know you weren’t raised with it.”

 

“No,” He replied eyes hardening, “I was raised to be a good little boy. Always listening to his mothers, and leaning to bask in his sister’s shadow.”

 

His parents and sister walked in at the end of the conversation and caught his last sentence. 

 

Kara promptly turned around and walked out again, but both Kia and Lena’s faces took on a troubled look.

 

Lena cleared her throat catching her son’s attention.

 

She forced a smile on her face.

 

“Ready to go?”

 

Liam’s arrogant expression changed to a hopeful one, and Lena’s final doubts were eased when she caught a glimpse of the boy she had raised.

 

“Finally.” He said with a smile, standing up and stretching.

 

The pair walked out of the interrogation room and down the hall followed by more guards. 

 

“You know, unless you want to host a million agents that follow me wherever I go. At some, point you’re going to have to tell this lot to piss off Mom.”

 

“You’re absolutely right Liam.” Superwoman’s voice sounded out as she walked towards them, flanked by a young tan woman with dark brown hair.

 

“That’s why Nina is going to be your personal guard. Where you go she goes. She's also in charge of making sure you don't disappear.”

 

The man eyed the other woman with interest. It couldn’t be…

 

“Tweety? Uncle Mon El and Aunt Imra’s youngest? But she can’t be more than twelve! You think she’d really be able to stop me if I tried to escape? Besides, I don’t need a baby to babysit me. I have enough motivation to stay.” He finished eyeing his dark-haired mother with annoyance.

 

Suddenly, he was forced to duck as a desk was thrown past his head. His eyes whipped around to find a furious looking girl and a smirking Kara.

 

“If that's how you talk to women, you’re probably used to having things thrown at your head.” His ex mother (he had yet to come up with a better description) said smugly.

 

“My _name_ is Nina, not that I’d expect you to remember. And I’m twenty-one, not twelve. _And_ I could kick your ass from here to Saturn if I wanted to.”

 

“Well you clearly have a good arm… and a temper. You’d make an excellent bounty hunter. Ever considered a change in profession? I could use a partner. Fifty-fifty split.” He said in amusement.

 

Nina furious expression changed to one of disgust. Liam let out a sigh. Didn’t these people know how to laugh?

 

“I would never work with a traitor!”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow.

 

“Funny,” he said dryly, “how many of you function with such ill informed information. It’s a wonder you get anything done at all.”

 

Nina opened her mouth to retort when J’onn cut her off.

 

“Enough! Why does everyone behave like children today?” He asked himself.

 

The young man shrugged his shoulders. 

 

“Probably the lack of life experience," he said shooting Nina an amused look.

 

Her face was slowly turning purple and Liam had to admit, it was an interesting shade.

 

“Liam, be quiet.” His mother said in a stern tone and he had the good sense to shut up.

 

“If we've all had enough of this postering, I’ve had a very long day without sleep.” She began, adjusting her handbag on her shoulder.

 

“Can we please go home? Or are there going to be anymore additions to our party I should wait for.”

 

Kara shook her head.

 

“Good,” Lena said briskly.

 

“Come along you two,” she finished before strutting to the elevator.

 

Her ex-wife’s hand caught her arm before she could take more than three steps.

 

“Lena…. be careful.” She finished looking at her with concern in her eyes.

 

Well, that wasn’t a look Lena had seen directed at her in a long time. Her eyes softened before placing her more delicate hand over Kara’s strong one.

 

“It’ll be ok Kara.”

 

Superwoman squeezed her arm briefly before letting go and her eyes hardened turning to Liam.

 

“And you… behave.”

 

The man’s eyes narrowed, but before he could respond his mother shot him a look that told him to shut up.

 

“Let’s go then,” Nina said, breaking the silence.

 

“Right,” Liam said, walking towards the elevator with the two women.

 

They turned to face a semi-circle of faces eyeing him with distrust.

 

He gave them a small wave.

 

“See ya tomorrow!”

 

* * *

 

Lena had moved to an apartment in the city after the divorce, a far cry from the house that Liam had grown up in. The building was expensive and new, not that he’d expected anything less. Sleek, modern and riddled with security. 

 

Lena’s doorman greeted her with a friendly wave and a smile.

 

“Afternoon Mrs Luthor. How are you today?”

 

The older woman returned his grin with a small smile of her own.

 

“Good, Jeff. My son Liam, has _finally_ returned from his world travels and will be staying with me, as well as his fiancée Nina. I’d like them to be on the approved list.”

 

Travels? Well he supposed that was technically true. He gave the man a smile of his own. Nina, however, looked ready to protest before Lena gave her shoulder a strong squeeze.

 

“She is certainly worthy of my boy,” she said eyeing the younger woman intensely who clued on to staying silent.

 

“Ah yes,” The doorman said eyeing Liam with interest, reaching his hand out for a shake. 

 

“You’ve been away for a long time Mr Luthor. It’s a pleasure to meet you and Ms…?”

 

“Matthews sir. Nina Matthews.” The young woman said with a now radiant smile on her face.

 

Odd, Liam thought. He didn't know she knew how to smile.

 

The doorman blinked in shock at being addressed as sir.

 

“Please,” he said beaming “call me Jeff!”

 

The trio walked into the private elevator leading to the penthouse. Nina waited until the door closed before turning to Lena with an angry expression.

 

“What the hell Auntie Lena?”

 

“Is pissed off your natural state?” Liam asked in amusement.

 

She glared at him.

 

“Only around you.”

 

“Jesus Christ would you two stop it! I’m not going to be listening to your bickering for the foreseeable future. Nina, we are trying to keep a cover here. This was the best way to explain you staying with me.”

 

“Sorry Auntie. You’re right.” Nina answered resigned.

 

“Well I for one, have no problem being assigned a hot fiancee,” Liam said with a smirk before his mother rounded on him.

 

“You better stop with this chauvinistic behaviour before we reach the top floor Liam Luthor. Otherwise I’ll throw you into prison myself. Apologise to Nina. _Now_.”

 

Liam looked at his mother’s serious expression warily before turning to face Nina with a sincere look on his face.

 

“I apologise Nina. It won’t happen again.” He said with feeling, the epitome of politeness.

 

Nina, to her credit, hid her shocked expression very well. Surprising how easily the man acquiesced to his mother. But then she remembered that he’d always done so.

 

_“Tweety, I swear if you don’t stop bugging me I’m gonna stick you in a pod.”_

 

_“But Liam! You promised to show me the labs.”_

 

_The older boy rolled his eyes at the earnest little face._

 

_“Just shut up and wait.” He said moodily._

 

_The little girl’s eyes welled with tears._

 

_“Liam Luthor!” Lena said striding into the room with a furious expression._

 

_“Apologise. Now.”_

 

_Liam turned to face Nina with an apologetic expression._

 

_“Sorry Tweety. Come on, I’ll take you down now, then we can go out for burgers.”_

 

_The child’s expression changed to one of joy._

 

_“Yay, burgers!”_

 

“Errr… no worries I guess. Don’t do it again.”

 

The lift reached the top floor and the doors opened with a ding to face the lavish open plan penthouse. It was a pristine white. With no artwork apart from one small painting Liam remembered Kara had gifted his mother on their anniversary. 

 

“Ok then. This is home. Nina, would you like a glass of water before you get started on the detention system?”

 

“Wait, what?” Liam said, thinking he must have misheard.

 

His mother turned to him with annoyed expression.

 

“A detention system Liam. And you’ll be injected with a tracking device. You don’t think I’d be stupid enough not to have one. I know you promised to live with me, and I do expect you home every night. But I’m not letting you wander out of here without Nina’s or my permission. Especially since you’ll be closest to door. After all, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

 

Liam was about to protest the tracking device, when he registered the last part of his mother’s sentence.

 

“Wait, what!?” he spluttered, “why am I sleeping on the couch?”

 

“Because I only have one guest room and Nina will be sleeping in it.”

 

Liam’s face took on an incredulous expression and turned between his mom’s calm one and the other woman’s smug face.

 

“What happened to equality of the sex’s?”

 

Lena raised an eyebrow.

 

“That went out the window, when you behaved rudely to Nina.”

 

“I apologised!”

 

“And I’m sure she appreciated that. Come on Nina, I’ll show you your room.”

 

The two women walked away, leaving Liam to stand alone. He sighed before making his way over to the kitchen. He was starving. The DEO hadn’t felt a need to feed him while he was in their custody. He rummaged around in the fridge, which was ridiculously empty. Still, he managed to fish out a lone yoghurt that was only one day expired.

 

He was just finishing it and was looking for the bin when the two woman walked back in.

 

Lena shook her head at her son in amusement.

 

“You’re just like your mama, always eating.”

 

Lena seemed to realise her mistake straight away, her face turning pale.

 

The man threw his empty container in the sink before storming off and opening a random door which led to a bathroom. 

 

“I’m having a shower.” He said before slamming it behind him so hard, the windows shook.

 

Lena released a sad sigh before turning to a wide eyed Nina.

 

“Welcome to the family.”

 

* * *

Liam spent the majority of his shower with his head leaning against the wall.

 

He was exhausted truthfully. The past forty-eight had been intense. Meeting the various members of his family for the first time in years did nothing for his mood. Even though he was incredible happy to see his mom again. But, he had still been torn from his shitty life and his shitty job to be thrown back into what… rehabilitation? 

 

And what exactly was he supposed to be doing with his time here. Volunteer at a soup kitchen? How long was it going to last. Forever?

 

He had the feeling that apart from his mother, the rest of them were all waiting for him to slip up.

 

Certainly the other person who raised him (he still didn’t have a good term for her), would only be too happy to perform the honour herself. 

 

Well he’d show the old bat. He was perfectly capable of playing mister nice. He had an undercover job once for six months doing just that. He had to get close to the son of the head of the Callugan Gang. Two months in, he was his best friend. Four months and he was sleeping with him. Five months, and he was engaged. And by six months, he had successfully stolen all their funds and taken his soon to be father in law in to collect the bounty.

 

Not that anyone needed to hear that particular tale. He doubted it would do anything for the upstanding image he was going to be portraying.

 

Still, he was not looking forward to the ordeal he was about to be put through. 

 

He wondered if he was ever going to get his shit back? If he didn’t come back to his apartment, you can bet all his stuff was going to be stolen. And there were things in he wanted to keep.

 

Sentimental value.

 

He had a few contacts he could trust to deliver. He just needed to convince the higher ups that it was ok. After all it wasn’t like he was hiding a hundred Cadmus agents in his underwear draw. The real trouble would come from his….Super not mother?

 

No, that term wasn’t going to work either.

 

He was pretty sure she was going to go out of her way to annoy him. She’s been like that since he was fifteen. Although his mother loved to compare him to her. Probably in a misguided attempt to make it seem like she really was his parent. Although in reality, he was a sperm donor baby. Unlike his ‘miracle’ sister. All that gene splitting tech developed, just so Lena and Kara could have a kid together. 

 

A little Kryptonian daughter.

 

And then there was him. The boring child, with no special gifts. Totally ordinary until he changed that himself.

 

The useless DEO psychologist his mother had insisted he see when he was a kid, would no doubt say his ‘inner child’ was in turmoil. He was constantly amazed by the idiots who ended up working there.

 

And now they had Tweety watching his every move. Although he couldn’t decide if that particular move was genius or insane. No doubt his aunt had come up with it. He couldn’t even look at her without seeing the kid that hung onto his jacket sucking her thumb. Though now that he recalls, she was one of the few people who bothered being interested in him, his mother being the other. 

 

That was until Cadmus.

 

Liam turned off the water, not wanting to dwell in shower thoughts on that particular subject matter. He wrapped himself with a towel and stepped out of the bathroom. He sure hoped his mother had something he could wear other than the lacy bathrobe hanging from the hook on the door. 

 

He could hear a murmur of voices in the living room and walked in to find his mother chatting away with Nina, while she installed the detection device on the door.

 

“Hey Mom? I don’t suppose you have anything I could wear. My clothes stink.”

 

The women looked up at the sound of his voice. A horrified expression crossed his mother’s face and she rushed to his side.

 

“Oh my God Liam. What happened to you?” She asked, her hand hovering over his chest.

 

Liam looked down. Oh shit.

 

He completely forgot about his scars. But in all honesty, he had assumed she knew abut them. They were noted down when he had his physical.

 

Tears formed in her eyes and she rushed into his arms. He was in an awkward position, he would have liked to hug her back, but he was trying to hold up the towel around his waist.

 

Lena for her part, was completely shocked by the extensive scarring on Liam’s chest. She was angry too, she couldn’t believe that no on had told her at the DEO, particularly her ex wife.

 

It was probably need to know, along with all of the results from the tests performed on her son.

 

Evidently, she didn’t need to know.

 

At his statement, she unwrapped her arms quickly and apologised.

 

“I’m sorry Liam… so sorry. Oh my poor boy.” She said, reaching up to touch his cheek.

 

Liam shuffled awkwardly. 

 

“Errr… mom. Clothes?”

 

Her stare was broken and she blinked rapidly.

 

“Oh yes, clothes. I had to guess your size, but I had some delivered this morning. They should be on my bed.”

 

Liam nodded and turned to head in the direction she was pointing to when he caught Nina’s eye.

 

She looked shocked and her mouth hung open in a small ‘oh’ shape, but she quickly snapped it shut and returned her gaze to her work.

 

After he had changed into far nicer material than he had worn in years, he retuned to the living room.

 

It appeared Nina had finished her job because she now sat with his mother, a small box in front of her.

 

“What’s that?” He queried.

 

She opened it up to reveal what looked like a tranq gun.

 

“It’s to inject your tracker.”

 

He eyed the gun with trepidation. This was it, the final nail in the coffin of his imprisonment. He was half tempted to say fuck it, just take me to jail. But he could see the hopeful expression on his mom’s face, and he couldn’t bare to disappoint her. 

 

“Alright,” he said.

 

“Where do you want me?”

 

Nina exposed his forearm and injected the tracker with a loud THWACK.

 

“Sweet Rao,” he cried involutarily, yanking his arm away.

 

“That hurt!” He said giving Nina an annoyed look.

 

“Well what did you expect?” She said nastily “A pinprick?”

 

Liam muttered while rubbing the spot that was already healing. He could faintly see the glowing tracker underneath.

 

“Oh, and by the way. If you try to dig it out, it’s rigged to explode.” The young woman finished with a smirk.

 

He looked at her shocked.

 

“What loony toon came up with that idea?”

 

“This loony toon actually” his mother answered in a dry tone.

 

“Now,” she said rubbing her hands together. “It’s getting late, and we’ve all had long days. How about I order in, and then we all get some rest. We have to get up early in the morning.”

 

“For what exactly?” Liam asked warily.

 

Lena looked at him like he was stupid.

 

“For work of course.”

 

“What, me too?”

 

“Yes,” she replied slowly. “I’ve gotten you a job in the L-Corp mailroom.”

 

“The mailroom! Are you kidding me?”

 

“You need to start giving back Liam. You might as well start with mail. It’s all about proving you can be a productive member of society in a way that doesn’t involve guns or bombs.”

 

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

 

“This was _her_ idea wasn’t it?” He asked angrily.

 

Lena sighed.

 

“If you’re referring to you mama-“

 

“ _Don’t_ call her that.” He interrupted angrily. “She isn’t my… she’s not that.”

 

Lena gave him a look.

 

“If you’re referring to your _mama,_ no. It was entirely my idea. As you know, she was opposed to the whole plan to begin with. Please don’t fight me on this Liam. I am committing nepotism by getting you this job.” 

 

Liam snorted.

 

“I highly doubt the board will sack you over getting your son a job in the _mailroom.”_

 

She shrugged. 

 

“You never know. I’m putting my own job on the line really.” She finished with a laugh, something Liam joined her in.

 

“Ok mom. I’ll work in the mailroom. For you.” He said, giving in.

 

“Thank you dear,”she said patting his cheek fondly, before picking up the phone.

 

“Ok, who wants Chinese?”

 

* * *

 

Later that night, Liam was was wide awake on the couch staring at the ceiling. As much as he detested the situation, he couldn’t help being happy about having dinner with his mom. 

 

It was a feeling of family that he hadn’t had in ten years.

 

Little did he know, Lena was lying awake thinking the exact same thing. She had been by herself for nearly five years now, ever since the divorce. Sleeping alone in an empty apartment, with a guest room that was never used. Now she had her son back and living with her. Plus she now had Nina staying, one of the few people affiliated with the DEO who still talked to her. And out of all the children of the various superheroes who used to adore her, she was the only one to still call her auntie.

 

She wasn’t stupid though, she knew why Nina had been assigned this job.

 

She was the baby of all the DEO’s heroes children and Liam had been closest to her when she was a child. She knew that she was deeply hurt when he was sent away.

 

_“Auntie Lena, where’s Liam? He promised to take me to the zoo today?”_

 

_“I’m so sorry sweetie… but Liam wont be around anymore…” She answered the young girl crying._

 

_Tweety rushed forward to hug her around the waist._

 

_“Don’t cry auntie! Liam will be back. He made a promise!”_

 

_“I’m so sorry Nina.”_

 

The DEO knew, that if Liam hurt Nina trying to escape. No spaceship could take him far enough away before he was hunted down and strung up by his ears. Not that Lena thought Liam would try to escape. But there was no way they were going to let him out of sight without precautions. Besides, if Nina’s little desk display and subsequent comments were any indications, she could more than handle herself.

 

Lena fell asleep with a smile on her face. While the situation with Liam was extremely troubling in many ways. He was defiantly bringing back a sense of fun to her life.

 

* * *

 

“Rise and shine sunshine.” An overly cheerful voice sounded out.

 

Liam groaned into his pillow and tuned over. It was far too early to get up.

 

Suddenly a pillow was smacked over his head with a ridiculous amount of force.

 

“Hey!” He yelled, tumbling off the couch and hitting the floor.

 

A grumpy looking Nina stood above him, pillow ready to hit again.

 

“If I have to get up at this hour, so do you. Move your ass.” She said in a gruff morning voice.

 

“Okay, okay. Jesus.” He said rubbing his head and standing up.

 

His mother was standing in the kitchen pressing juice. She gave him a large smile.

 

“Morning darling. You better get ready before breakfast, we’re a bit pressed for time.”

 

So that was the cheerful voice he had heard.

 

He blinked at her blearily.

 

With his dopey expression and ruffled hair, he really did look like Kara, Lena thought.

 

She wise enough not to voice that out loud.

 

“Your suit’s on my bed darling.” 

 

He stopped in his tracks towards the dinner table.

 

“A suit? For the mailroom?”

 

She frowned up at him.

 

“Of course! You want to look professional. And you might want to think about cleaning up a bit,” She said eyeing his shaggy hair and beard with distaste.

 

He ran a protective hand across his head.

 

“I’m not cutting my hair, or shaving my beard Mom.”

 

“Fine,” she said resignedly as he walked off.

 

“At least brush it!” She shouted behind him.

 

* * *

 

The L-Corp mailroom was the only place Liam had never visited in the building before, for good reasons. The place was more boring than the Coluan senate session he had been forced to sit through once. His manager, Bob, was the dullest person on the planet. He also seemed to find a great deal of joy in lording his minuscule power over Liam. Must be the idea of being the boss of a Luthor that got him off.

 

Fucking prick though.

 

Of course Nina was probably even more bored than him.

 

Bob had designated her a chair in the corner, muttering the entire time about ‘entitled brats and their bodyguards’. She spent the first two hours diligently scanning the room, as if ninjas were about to suddenly pop out of a parcel. Liam had to admire her dedication, but even she had to crack and slowly her gaze and attention drifted to her phone.

 

Liam took great pleasure in throwing paper planes at her then.

 

At the moment, Bob had decided Liam wasn’t worthy of actually delivering the mail and was instead assigned to simply sorting it. It was easily the longest morning of his life and he almost cried when Bob let him go on his lunch break.

 

“Freedom!” He shouted running out of the building, overjoyed at the feeling of sunlight hitting his face.

 

He barely had time to enjoy it before he got his first text on the phone his mother had given him.

 

_Mom - Come up to my office_

 

Liam groaned. Bob had probably reported that he had done a completely useless job and his mother was going to chew him out. Dejectedly, he marched up to his mother’s office, passing by a young blonde who blushed and stuttered at the site of him.

 

“Th-this way Mr Luthor. Your moth-mother is expecting you.”

 

“I bet she is,” he muttered.

 

He opened the doors, and was surprised to be greeted with a smile and a hug.

 

“Hello darling! I decided to order in lunch for all of us and we can eat while you tell me about your morning.”

 

Nina eagerly pounced on a carton and dug in with enthusiasm, something Lena laughed at.

 

“Animals, the lot of you!”

 

She turned to face her son, and was surprised to find him still standing with a frown on his face.

 

“What’s wrong Liam?” She asked.

 

He gestured over the displayed food.

 

“What are we doing Mom?”

 

She looked at the food confused.

 

“Eating?” She questioned back.

 

“No,” he said. “Why are you pretending like this is all normal? Like I didn’t just turn up three days ago after being gone for ten years. Like I wasn’t accused of being a terrorist. That it’s all normal, and I’m working in the mailroom and we’re having lunch and talking about my first day back. Aren’t you angry that I’ve been gone all this time? Don’t you have questions about who I am and what I’ve done? What is all this?”

 

Lena stared at him, and even Nina had stopped eating to listen to the conversation.

 

“Of course I have questions Liam. But I don’t want to push you to tell me what has happened to you for the last ten years. And I’m not angry at you, I’m just happy you’re alive and here. Even if you hadn’t come back for another ten years. I’d just be happy you were home. And I’m asking about your morning in the mailroom, because I genuinely want to know how you’ve managed not to kill Bob yet.” She finished with a grin.

 

Liam blinked at her, before letting out a deep laugh. Suddenly he leaned down and pulled her into a hug.

 

“I’ve missed you Mom”

 

She patted his back, a single tear rolling down her face.

 

“I’ve missed you too.”

 

* * *

   

After Bob saw fit to release him from his papery hell, Liam and Nina were driven by a nameless agent to the DEO. 

 

Something the dark haired man protested profusely.

 

“What? I don't even get a chance to have shower before I’m dragged into another interrogation room? I’m covered in paper sweat!”

 

Nina shot him an annoyed look.

 

“Firstly, yes we are going in right now. Like we will be doing everyday for the foreseeable future. Secondly, there is no such thing as paper sweat. And thirdly, you are going to be as annoying as you possibly can, aren’t you?”

 

Liam smirked at the irritated woman.

 

“Glad to see you’re getting to know me dear!”

 

Nina huffed, but held her tongue. She had to stop letting this idiot bait her. He wasn’t an annoying cousin type, who she could bicker with. He was a suspected terrorist, and she was his guard.

 

His arrival at the DEO today resulted in fewer stares, but he still caught a few wary glances thrown his way. They were met in the lobby by his Aunt Alex, who looked far more relaxed than she did the day before.

 

“Where’s your Mom?” She asked looking around.

 

“She had to finish paperwork auntie,” Nina said, cutting off Liam’s response. “She’ll be by as soon as it’s done.”

 

Alex let out a sigh.

 

“Same old Lena. Come on you two.” She said gesturing for them to follow. She led them into the lab and indicated for Liam to sit.

 

“So I have some of the preliminary results back from the tests we did yesterday, and I have a few questions.”

 

“Ok. Shoot.” He replied easily.

 

“You’re blood test indicated that you have trace amounts of an strong central nervous system drug floating in your system. The only earth chemical equivalent would be methamphetamine. Can you explain that?” She asked in a stern tone.

 

He shrugged his shoulders in response. 

 

“I got a chip a while back, that floods my body with an artificial version of it when exposed to certain UV rays. It’s fun when I’m out at the clubs. It certainly makes a complete job feel more successful.”

 

“Well, at some point you will be having surgery to remove said chip.” 

 

“What!” He shouted, “First I have to work in the mailroom, and now you’re going to take away the one thing that could make it interesting?”

 

Alex snorted in laughter.

 

“Lena’s making you work in the mailroom? Oh that is priceless.”

 

The tall man was glaring at his laughing aunt when his sister walked in.

 

“What’s going on in here?” She asked cautiously, eyeing Alex like she was crazy.

 

Kia was wearing her 'normal clothes' disguise, complete with a set of glasses.

 

Liam was still puzzled by how people didn’t see through that within a second. He recalled his mother telling him once, that she knew within the first day of meeting Kara that she was Supergirl.

 

_“Honestly darling, the glasses really didn’t fool me.”_

 

_“But I didn’t know that!” Kara said indigent, “and everyone was running around keeping it a secret. Making J’onn pretend to be me!”_

 

_“Ahhh yes,” His mother replied. “The soup incident.”_

 

_“Yes! And all to tell me that you kissed James!”_

 

_“You kissed Uncle James Mom! Ewwww!” Liam said with a disgusted expression while sticking his tongue out._

 

_“Ewww is right little man. But it made me swear right then and there, that the only person I would be kissing in the future was Mama.”_

 

_The little boy giggled._

 

_“And me and Kia!” He said enthusiastically._

 

_His mama began to tickle him furiously._

 

_“That’s right buddy," Kara said._

 

_"Just us.”_

 

Still, seeing his sister standing there made him realise once again how much she looked like Kara.

 

“Oh nothing,” Alex said, regaining her composure.

 

“We were just discussing Liam’s new job at L-Corp.”

 

Kia’s face whipped to her brother’s.

 

“ _You_ got a job at L-Corp?” She said with suspicion.

 

“Bloody hell, its only in the mailroom. I’m not manufacturing synthetic kryptonite!” He replied in protest.

 

“Given your past history,” she said, eyes narrowing. “I wouldn’t put it past you.”

 

“This may come as a shock to your inflated sense of self importance sister, but as usual, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied in a cruel tone.

 

Kia got into his face and shouted angrily.

 

“I could snap you like a toothpick little brother. Don’t test me!”

 

“Do it. See how that works out for you.” He spat back.

 

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?” An angry voice sounded out. 

 

The two siblings whipped their heads around and saw J’onn and Superwoman standing in the doorway. J’onn looked furious and the blonde was eyeing the pair of them with annoyance.

 

“Sorry J’onn,” his sister said, backing down immediately.

 

The younger man rolled his eyes.

 

“Kiss ass.” He said to her.

 

The martian’s gaze whipped to him.

 

“I believe you have failed to understand the seriousness of the situation you are in boy.” He said icily. 

 

“Let me remind you.”

 

Suddenly Liam’s brain was filled with images of a dank and cold cell. Filled with darkness.

 

“Ok, alright.” He said after returning to the DEO.

 

“But I can’t help it if she starts it!”

 

Superwoman spoke for the first time then.

 

“Kia, come on. Let’s go flying.” She said leading her daughter out of the room.

 

Ah yes, their little mother/daughter bonding experience. How delightful.

 

His aunt, who had stood in silence for the entire exchange suddenly laughed again breaking the tense air.

 

“You’re probably right about keeping the meth implant. It really would help!”

 

“He has a what!?” Lena’s voice suddenly rang out.

 

Liam turned to see his mother standing in the doorway, her green eyes snapping furiously.

 

It was Nina’s turn to laugh.

 

“You’re so screwed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you guys think?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a struggle to write this chapter for me. It's a little bit shorter then I wanted, but it's a heavy one as well. Hopefully, poor Kara is a slightly more understood. Let me know what you think though, I love to read comments and feedback!

Lena dragged her son to a nearby interrogation room and proceeded to chew him out for the next hour.

 

“What’s going on?” Kara asked walking into the viewing room next door, after returning from flying with Kia. Alex looked up from watching her ex-sister in law on mute. She was currently screaming at a cowering Liam.

 

Kara frowned at the scene.

 

“Why is the volume on mute?”

 

Alex gave her sister a glanc before she pressed the button for audio. Kara promptly covered her ears.

 

“-WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING! RUNNING AROUND THE GALAXY, PROBABLY BEHAVING LIKE AN IDIOT. GREAT REPRESENTATION OF THE HUMAN RACE YOU ARE! SO YOU’RE THAT DETERMINED TO RUIN YOUR LIFE? GOOD TO KNOW YOU DESTROYED IT HERE ON EARTH AS WELL AS THOSE AROUND YOU, ONLY TO GO TO SPACE AND DO IT THERE TOO. YOU ARE BEHAVING LIKE THE MOST SELFISH-“

 

“Turn it off!” Kara said in agony, “TURN IT OFF!”

 

Alex grimaced and pressed the button again. 

 

“Yeah, so that’s why the volume’s on mute. We’re all lucky she took him into an interrogation room instead of staying in the med bay.”

 

The blonde woman rubbed the sides of her head. She’d forgotten how loud Lena could yell.

 

“What did he do to make her scream so much?”

 

Her sister looked at her, observing her reaction.

 

“He has a drug implant, that can flood his body with an amphetamine type. She didn’t react well to the news. I’m pretty sure she wants me to perform the surgery to get it out tonight.”

 

An involuntary flash of anger and concern crossed her face before she composed herself.

 

“So… he’s a drug addict?”

 

Alex shrugged her shoulders.

 

“… will he go through withdrawal?”

 

“I’ll give him an injection to flush it out of his system when the implant’s out. We developed it for poisons, but it should work the same way. He’ll be as sick as a dog after though.”

 

“Hmmm…” Kara mused, watching her ex exploding. She really was beautiful when she was upset…

 

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she turned her gaze to Liam. As much as she wished it didn’t, the morose expression on his face sent her back to another time.

 

_Kara flew in through the open window of there kitchen, something she knew annoyed Lena greatly. She heard the sound of her wife’s stern voice. She was unfortunately very well familiar with._

 

_“Liam Luthor… you’re really telling me you didn’t eat the chocolate cake?” Lena asked her five year old son, with a raised eyebrow._

 

_The boy made a sad face, which didn’t have the full effect due to the chocolate smears on his face._

 

_“Well…. I had a bit.”_

 

_“How much is a bit?”_

 

_Liam withered under his mother’s gaze, and opened his mouth to confess when Kara cut in._

 

_“Just a slice Lena, honest. I ate the rest.” She said giving her son a wink._

 

_The little boy giggled before running over to the blonde, ready to be picked up._

 

_Kara lifted him into her arms and faced her wife._

 

_Lena glared at her, hands on her hips._

 

_“You weren’t even here! How could you have managed that?”_

 

_“I super speed ate it.” Kara replied with a straight face._

 

_“Ughh, I give up, you let him get away with anything. And does no one in this family have restraint around food?”_

 

_Kara smiled, walking over to her wife and kissing her on the cheek._

 

_“Well… you do sweetie.”_

 

_Her son wriggled in her arms, giggling again._

 

_“Me next, me next!”_

 

_The blonde gave him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek before lifting him up and blowing a raspberry on his stomach._

 

_“Mama!”_

 

Kara shook her head. The man sitting in that room wasn’t her son, not anymore. Not after… she just couldn’t forget that fact. 

 

Even though everyone else seemed to be.

 

She turned to Alex with a stoic face.

 

“Any chance that when you’re performing the surgery that you can take out some of the enhancement implants?”

 

“Kara. That’s Cadmus tech. We don’t know what that will do to him. It could kill him.”

 

She knew that. Of course, she knew that. But it was a matter of measuring the risks against the rewards. She wasn't risking his life, she was considering the lives of everyone else working here. She didn't want him hurt, that why she’d taken Kia flying to calm down. The last thing she needed was a fight to break out in the DEO and for her daughter to potentially have her brother’s blood on her conscience if she lost control.

 

Something the hot-headed girl was prone to doing.

 

She didn’t want him to hurt… she just wanted him to be less dangerous and preferable far away. And punished. She failed to understand how this rehab plan was fair. Liam certainly didn’t deserve the care that was being bestowed on him, he had lost the right to kindness a long time ago.

 

“Just see if you can do it Alex,” she barked, uncomfortable with the rise of complicated emotions that she had buried deep down for so long. She marched out of the room without another word.

 

Alex sighed. She agreed with Kara’s opinion on Liam. But the fact was, that he was here and he wasn’t going anywhere. And that meant that Kara needed to acknowledge his presence instead of pretending he wasn't who he was. 

 

No matter what either of them said, they were still mother and son.

 

* * *

 

Lena’s tirade had finally finished, and she sunk down into a chair huffing. Her voice was now hoarse.

 

“Anything _else_ you have to tell me? Other things, that will destroy your body and mind?” She asked gruffly.

 

Liam shook his head, not daring to speak.

 

His mother stared him down.

 

“I’ve decided on a course of action for this... _development_. You _will_ be having an operation to remove that _thing_ in your head, as soon as possible. You’ll be having a psychiatric assessment per the DEO’s orders and you will continue to visit them regarding _this_ and _any_ other issues that arise. You _will also_ be attending NA meetings.”

 

He knew it probably wouldn’t do him any good, but he couldn’t help but protest.

 

“Mom, I’m not a drug addict! I don’t need to go to NA. And come on… you can’t be serious about me seeing a psych? It didn’t do anything to help last time.”

 

“Last time you hadn’t destroyed people’s lives Liam, whether it was your choice or not. I’m not taking the risk of you wandering around as a potential psychopath. We already have had enough of those in the Luthor family. If you don’t want to take a permanent vacation next to Lex’s cell, you _will_ do this. _It is not up for debate_.”

 

Liam felt like screaming. He was starting to feel the weight of the chains he was allowing to be put on his own wrists. 

 

But he couldn’t run… not again.

 

He’d known when he agreed to this situation, that he was going to have to make certain changes.

 

The man sighed loudly and his mother made a sound of annoyance.

 

“Everything I’m asking of you Liam is perfectly reasonable. Considering... everything. Remember, this could be much worse. I’ve put myself out on a limb for you son, respect my wishes on this.”

 

“Alright Mom,” he answered, before he tried to lighten the mood.

 

“I'll do what you ask, as long as you don’t ask me to cut my hair. Or shave.”

 

His mother let out a breath she’d been holding in, and gave him a small smile.

 

“You look homeless Liam. And least consider it.”

 

Liam thought for a bit. 

 

“Hey Mom? I know this is probably the worst time, but could I ask you a favour?” 

 

* * *

 

The pair walked out of the room and found Nina standing outside the door. Lena looked at her with embarrassment.

 

“I'm sorry you had to hear that Nina.”

 

The young woman smiled before replying.

 

“The walls are soundproof Auntie, I didn’t hear a thing.”

 

Lena sighed in relief before heading down the corridor towards the central hub. That’s when Liam caught Nina’s muttered, “but the walls still vibrate.”

 

He stifled a laugh.

 

They were met by J’onn and Alex when they arrived, the later eyeing Liam with a hint of interest before turning to Lena.

 

“He needs to fast, but I can perform that surgery tomorrow afternoon. That’s if he can be pulled away from his important duties at L-Corp.” She said with a smirk.

 

“Hey! That mail couldn’t be delivered without me!”

 

Lena’s face quirked at Alex’s teasing. She hadn’t been expecting that, what had changed Alex’s mood so drastically from her hostility yesterday?

 

“You’re only sorting at the moment Liam. And from what Nina told me, very badly.” Alex said with a laugh.

 

J’onn was also looking at Alex like she had sprouted another head. The short haired woman noticed the looks, and cleared her throat.

 

“Anyway, yes. The surgery can be done tomorrow.”

 

The CEO nodded. 

 

“Good, the sooner the better. In the meantime, could I ask that the appointment with the psychiatrist be moved to the day after?”

 

“Of course,” J’onn said nodding.

 

“I figure you’ll be… thoroughly exhausted by then. He finished before turning to walk away.

 

Lena cleared her throat, making J’onn turn to face her.

 

“Director J’onzz. Could I ask for another favour? Liam would like to contact a friend of his in space, who could bring his belongings from his apartment down. Could that be allowed to happen?”

 

J’onn and Alex face's turned to Liam, both sprouting frowns. 

 

Shit, they were going to say no, he thought.

 

“Please Director. It’s all I have left of my life that I had for for nearly a decade. Sentimental value. Please?” He begged.

 

The three older adults gave him a look of surprise before turning to look at J’onn and waiting for an answer.

 

The martian quirked an eyebrow at the younger man. 

 

Humility? Unexpected.

 

“I suppose if the message was supervised and... your things, when delivered, were inspected… that it would be fine.” He finished, before turning to walk away. 

 

The boy’s request wasn’t ridiculous, and inspecting his things would give the DEO a chance to determine some of what Liam had been up to during his time away. 

 

He hesitated again before walking away. 

 

“Just make sure you go to those NA meetings. Ok?”

 

He couldn’t believe he was becoming so soft. Next, he would be inviting Black Mercy's to tea and cake.

 

The rest of the group watched as the broad man walked away. It was Liam’s turn to wonder what the hell was happening. Either he was really pulling off this reformed act, or his mother was slipping them something in their drinks. Suddenly everyone was becoming…considerate. 

 

It was weird, he almost preferred the blind distrust.

 

“You’re getting his crap delivered? He’s not a charity case, he’s a suspected terrorist!”

 

And there it was again.

 

Liam turned to raise his eyebrows at his furious sister who was now dressed in her super suit. He opened his mouth to retort, when his mother shot him a look to shut him up.

 

“The key word in that sentence Kia, is suspected,” Lena said gently.

 

Kia’s face began to turn red.

 

“No matter what he could does, you forgive him. And we all know why, you can’t bear the thought that he is exactly like Lex. Just accept it and move on.” She said before stalking off.

 

Lena’s hand twitched, a part of her itching to slap her daughter. But that thought alone filled her with guilt. She sighed, she wasn’t going to be like Lillian and neglect her daughter in favour of her son. She followed her daughter's exit with her eyes and sighed. 

 

Lena would give her space for now. If it was her, she would want that. 

 

Still, she texted her daughter a message.

 

_Mom - I love you Kia. Whenever you want to talk, wherever you want to talk, I’ll be there._

 

She turned to face her son, whose face had switched from angry to blank.

 

“I don’t care if everyone in the world thinks that Liam, I just need you to know that I don’t.”

 

Liam’s flat expression broke and he pulled his mother into a hug.

 

_“I know Mom, you’ve always been there for me. No matter what.”_ He said in kryptonian, not wanting his vulnerable moment to be overheard by his aunt.

 

Lena was surprised. She never thought she’d her him speak in that language again.

 

_“And I always will darling.”_ She replied when she saw her ex wife enter the room out of the corner of her eye.

 

_“Stronger together remember,”_ she said looking directly at the blonde.

 

_“Stronger together.”_ Liam mumbled back.

 

The other woman froze, staring at them with pained look. She stood there for a few seconds before turning and walking away.

 

Liam hadn’t seen her fortunately, so when he pulled away from the hug he was smiling.

 

“I’m surprised Liam, I didn’t think I would ever hear you speak that again. You stopped when you were fifteen.”

 

The man smirked.

 

“When you’re out there,” he said indicating to the atmosphere. “You gotta use everything you got.”

 

“Aliens still speak kryptonian? I would have thought it was a dead language by now?” She asked fascinated.

 

“Nah…” He said shrugging his shoulders. “The second a planet dies, the language becomes the coolest thing to know.Knowing kryptonian gets you into all the right places. The higher ups love it. Makes you exotic. A curiosity for when you wanna infiltrate anything. From gangs to politician’s parties. I remember one time, I was sent out to pick up a Valeronian. He’d skipped out on his parole, wife beater. And he was operating out in the Horse Head nebula on some backwater mining planet called… ”

 

Liam looked up from their conversation and saw that several of the DEO agents had stopped working and were listening in.

 

“What’s your problem?” He barked and the agents jumped back to work.

 

His mother gave him an assumed look. Nina, who had remained silent through out the whole affair, suddenly spoke up.

 

“You’ve been to the Horse Head nebula?” She asked curiously.

 

Liam smiled at her genuine interest.

 

“Yeah. A couple of times actually. Had to stow away in some fancy space hopping ship, just to get there without waiting for a gazillion years.”

 

Nina seemed ready to ask another question, but realised what she was doing and restrained herself.

 

“Well,” Alex said interrupting. “Then you’ll certainly have enough to tell us at the DEO. Everyday. For the next gazillion years.”

 

Liam groaned.

 

 

* * *

 

Lena and Nina waited outside of the interrogation room for Liam to finish. The CEO had the sneaking suspicion that Alex wan’t supervising the session, because she knew that her nephew would be far more annoying than informative when it came to…. well anything. While Lena certainly wasn’t privy to what was going on in the interview at the moment, she was convinced that her son wasn’t being forthcoming with any relevant information. 

 

He had too much of her in him to do anything less.

 

“Lena. Nina”

 

The CEO looked up from her phone to see her ex wife standing in front of her, while the younger woman nodded in response to the superhero.

 

Lena couldn’t help but stare. She hadn’t seen Kara out of her supersuit since the divorce. Looking at her with her glasses on for the first time in five years was certainly a shock.

 

She just looked like…her Kara. Right down to the fidgeting and nervous twitching. It may be odd to some, but she still found this part of her ex wife far more loveable than Superwoman. 

 

“Kara,” she answered steadily.

 

The taller woman hesitated, before sitting down next to the CEO.

 

“I heard about the implant. Well, I mean everyone would’ve heard if Alex hadn’t had the button on mute,” Kara finished with a weak smile.

 

Lena blinked in shock at the awkward attempt at humour.

 

Was someone slipping something in the water around here?

 

“Yes… He’s having surgery to remove it tomorrow.”

 

The superhero nodded so fast that she had to push her glasses up her nose. Lena struggled to contain her laugh. This definitely was the woman she had fallen in love with.

 

Then, subsequently, lost.

 

Lena’s drifting thoughts were cut off by Kara’s next question,

 

“…he giving you any trouble?”

 

“No…” She replied hesitantly, shooting her ex a weird look.

 

The blonde noticed.

 

“Oh…well good,” she said awkwardly.

 

“Listen, Lena-“ she began before being cut off by the opening door.

 

An unknown DEO agent stalked out of the room followed by a smirking Liam.

 

“You know,” He said dryly, his eyes following the man down the hall.

 

“If he really didn’t want to know about White Martian brothel I stayed at for a month, he shouldn’t of asked.”

 

His gaze turned from the man’s back to see Kara sitting next to his mother. He blinked stupidly and was temporarily lost for words. She had stood up to face him on shaky legs and without her suit on, she lost her superhero aura. Liam registered for the first time since he had arrived at the DEO, that he was taller than her now.

 

They simply stared at each other, neither wanting to speak first.

 

Nina was the first person to speak, breaking the silence.

 

“Hey Luthor, I’m pretty sure we can record that message now.”

 

Liam eyed the older blonde woman, before turning his gaze to his guard.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

The older women watched the younger pair make their own way down the hall.

 

“What do you want Kara?” Lena began, breaking the renewed silence

 

“Lena, I need you to talk to you.” 

 

“Kara…” Lena sighed gathering her bag and phone.

 

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

 

The green eyed woman began to follow her son and pseudo niece when a strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the recently abandoned room.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lena growled. 

 

“You can’t manhandle me Kara!”

 

The blonde woman ignored her, and instead turned her heat vision to metal door welding the hinges in place.

 

“And now what?” The CEO continued. “Are you going to lock me in here until I agree to send my son to prison? We’ve had this conversation-“

 

“Lena!” Kara shouted cutting her ex off.

 

“I need you to listen to me… please?” She pleaded.

 

She huffed under the blonde’s pout.

 

“Fine…” She said resignedly before crossing her arms across her chest.

 

Kara let out her own sigh, before running her hands through her hair.

 

“Lena. I’m worried about you. He….” She said gesturing vaguely.

 

“He’s a rabbit hole Lena. You’re going to fall in deep, and you are going to fall in hard.”

 

“For Christ’s sake Kara!” The dark haired woman shouted.

 

“You’ve come here, to try to talk me out of over investing myself in him, is that it? But you know as well as I do that the second our children were born we became over invested. There is no rabbit hole to fall into Kara, we're already in wonderland. You can't change the fact that he is our son.”

 

“BUT HE’S NOT!” The blonde woman bellowed back, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

 

“He’s not…. Not anymore Lena. He made a choice. He came to me, begged me to help him. And I did. It went against everything that I believed in, but I did it. Because he was my son.” 

 

The tears were falling freely now.

 

“And then he….. he…”Kara couldn’t finish.

 

“….It’s been ten years Kara.”

 

“Why do you say that like it changes something Lena? For ten years you’ve pretended like nothing happened. You couldn’t bear the thought that he wasn’t an innocent little boy. No matter what he does, that’s how you’ll always see him.”

 

Lena let out a scoff.

 

“Now you sound like Kia.”

 

“Is she wrong?”

 

The dark haired woman closed her eyes briefly before replying.

 

“Yes, ok? For the last ten years I’ve looked at his memory and chose to see an innocent boy. And you’ve been looking back and have seen an angry eighteen year old who lied to you and abused your trust. But…. it has been ten years. And the person that’s here now is neither of those boys. He is a man. A man that we don’t know anymore. And I have to give that man a chance, because he is our son. We have to let the past die, to move forward.”

 

Kara sat quietly, before she asked in a soft voice.

 

“But what if he is like Lex? Everything that he did….”

 

Lena snorted.

 

“Well if he has stories about White Martian brothels that send DEO agents running, I think it’s safe to assume that he is not xenophobic anymore.”

 

Kara let a short laugh escape her. And her ex watched her wipe away her last lingering tears before she hesitantly placed her hand on top of the blonde’s.

 

“Kara…Liam was never Lex.”

 

The hero looked at her with a hardening gaze.

 

“He wanted to be.”

 

“No….” Lena said softly. 

 

“He wanted to be you. And when he couldn’t have that….” 

 

She sighed again.

 

“But… I think that now, Liam just wants to be Liam. And that by itself proves he has changed.”

 

Kara sighed.

 

“He’s just so angry….”

 

The brunette let out a laugh.

 

“So are you dear.”

 

The blonde paused, relishing the feeling of Lena’s hand on top of her own. Their gazes locked over the table.

 

_“What did you two do!”_

 

_Lena’s daughter looked up her guiltily. The kids had clearly gotten into her makeup. Kia had her purple lipsticksmeared across her face, making her look maniacal. Liam, for his part, had eyeshadow on so thick, he looked like a racoon._

 

_“You said you would be bringing us the work tomorrow Mommy! We needed to get ready.” Liam said happily._

 

_Lena eyed her six-year-old daughter, and Kia looked down at her shoes and mumbled._

 

_“I know we shouldn’t have. But Liam wanted to try it. He wanted to be proffesantchel for tomorrow.”_

 

_“Professional, dear.” Lena corrected involuntarily._

 

_“Yeah. Professional.” Her daughter replied._

 

_“Mommy, don’t be mad at Kia.” Liam begged, his lip wobbling. “I asked her for help. It’s my fault.”_

 

_“Oh darlings, I’m not mad.” Lena exclaimed kneeling down to be at eye level with her children._

 

_“You shouldn’t have played with my things without asking that's all. In fact! Why don’t you practice on me? We’ve all got to look our best tomorrow!”_

 

_The three of them were giggling and painting each others faces haphazardly when Kara came home._

 

_“What’s going on here?”_

 

_Lena looked at he wife with a sheepish expression._

 

_“I decided to show the kids how to use makeup,” She said seriously, while her daughter and son giggled on the floor._

 

_“Oh really?,” Kara said raising an eyebrow._

 

_“With your two-hundred dollar foundation?”_

 

_Lena look down at the scattered foundations, lipsticks and eyeliners._

 

_“…yes?” She replied uncertainly._

 

_The blonde superhero laughed._

 

_“You let them get away with anything,” she said in a sing song voice._

 

_“What made you think I’d believe that?”_

 

_Lena smiled before pulling her wife close and kissing her._

 

_“Because you believe in family,”_

 

Lena pulled her hand away and Kara averted her gaze.

 

“….you believe in family.” Kara muttered.

 

Lena gave her a weak smile.

 

“I don’t think I can Lena…..”

 

Lena sighed before getting up.

 

“I understand Kara, I do. Now… do you think you could open the door?”

 

The hero nodded before walking over breaking the door off and leaning in against the wall. Lena raised an eyebrow.

 

“I know, I know,” Kara said waving her away. “Subtlety. It’s never been my strong suit.”

 

Lena smirked and nodded goodbye before beginning down the hall.

 

The blonde stood in the doorframe and hesitated before shouting after her ex wife.

 

“He’s getting help?”

 

“Sorry?” Lena asked turning around.

 

“He’s getting help… for his addiction?”

 

Lena nodded slowly.

 

“He’ll be going to meetings. And he’s having surgery for the implant tomorrow.”

 

“Good.” Kara replied and Lena began to start walking again.

 

“I’m reopening the investigation!” The blonde yelled.

 

Lena stopped again and faced her with a frustrated look.

 

“Should we just go back to the room? Clearly you want to talk some more.”

 

Kara ignored her snarky reply.

 

“You want me to trust him again? I’m reopening the investigation. If he was telling the truth last time, I’ll find out. I won’t stop until I know.”

 

The green-eyed woman stood shocked, before she walked back and yanked Kara into tight hug that the blonde returned. 

 

“Why now? When I asked you to before….” She whispered into the taller woman’s ear.

 

“It’s different now.” Kara replied. 

 

“I have to give the man a chance. He's my son.”

 

* * *

 

“Send off your message alright?” Lena said to her son when she walked back into the main hub.

 

Liam swivelled in his chair and put his feet up on the desk when he faced his mother.

 

“What did she want?”

 

His mother sighed.

 

“Your mama didn’t want anything Liam. She just wanted to talk.”

 

“She’s not my-“

 

“LIAM ENOUGH!”

 

The room as a whole dropped in volume and Lena stalked towards Liam, knocking his shoes down.

 

“Just stop.”

 

He nodded without sound, and Lena turned to the room at large.

 

“WHAT!”

 

Everyone began to scramble, refocusing on their work and conversations started up again.

 

Nina coughed and Lena whipped her angry stare to her.

 

“We’re all done for the day here auntie. We can go whenever you like.” She said quietly.

 

Lena’s gaze softened.

 

“Oh… thank you Nina.”

 

The CEO turned to look down at her son, who was intently staring at his shoes.

 

“Let’s go home.”

 

* * *

 

_“Liam? What’s wrong?”_

 

_The ten year old didn’t reply but the lump under the blankets was definitely rising and falling._

 

_She sat down on the edge of the bed._

 

_“Liam…. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”_

 

_A muffled sound came from beneath the covers._

 

_“What?”_

 

_The blankets were pulled back and Liam’s head poked out, a fierce scowl on his face._

 

_“Auntie Alex said I couldn’t go with them to paintball this weekend. She said I’m too little. But she’s taking Kia and Jamie, why can’t I go?”_

 

_His mother ran her hand through his hair, something she knew her son hated. But she had always found his annoyed expression cute._

 

_“Sweetie, Alex is just trying to make sure you don’t get hurt.”_

 

_He crossed his arms across his chest and huffed._

 

_“I won’t get hurt! I’m a badass, just like you.”_

 

_She let out a laugh._

 

_“Of course you are sweetie! Which is why I need you to stay with me this weekend.”_

 

_Her son’s face changed from angry to intrigued._

 

_“Why?” He asked._

 

_“Because everyone’s going to be away and I need someone to help me out. But…. maybe you can’t handle it.”_

 

_“No!” Liam shouted excitedly, “I can handle it!”_

 

_The boy scrambled out of bed._

 

_“What are we doing? What do you need me to do!”_

 

_She laughed at his eagerness._

 

_“Well…” Said leaning forward._

 

_“I think it’s about time I took you on a mission”_

 

_“A mission!”_

 

_“Yeah,” Kara said with a grin._

 

_“But we're going to have to go flying.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it! But if you didn't, feel free to leave a comment anyway :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I've been feeling unwell so I spent the day in bed writing. Btw, there seems to be a bit of divide in the comments between people thinking that Liam and Lena or Kia and Kara are in the wrong. I'm interested to know what other people think. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter :)

“This is humiliating.”

 

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the feeling then,” Nina responded sarcastically.

 

Liam glared at the younger woman who smiled innocently.

 

“You’re going to be as annoying as possible aren’t you?”

 

“Yep,” she said popping the ‘p’.

 

Liam’s eyes turned from the dark-haired girl and back to the room set up in the basement of the local YMCA. A ring of chairs sat in the middle of the room and a table was set up and covered with an assortment of snacks, coffee, and juices. A small group of people was also lingering around the edges talking to each other in a low murmur.

 

“I’m not doing this.” He said determinedly, shaking his head.

 

“Not to be the bearer of bad news, but you don’t have much of a choice here. I distinctly recall your mother telling you that it was either this, or you’d be living at the DEO.”

 

“You know,” he began annoyed. “I think she’s going to use that threat every time she wants me to do something.”

 

“Probably,” Nina replied happily.

 

The tall man grunted, before stalking into the room and grabbing a seat. Nina sat next to him and daintily crossed her legs.

 

“No point pretending to be a lady in here,” Liam snorted. “I highly doubt the company will care.”

 

Nina felt a flash of irritation and was ready to retort when an older man approached them with his hand outstretched.

 

“Hi,” he said when the woman returned the shake.

 

“I just wanted to say welcome, my name’s David. Is this your first time at a meeting?”

 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. My name’s Nina, and yes this is our first time. But I’m just here for moral support.” She jabbed her thumb at the scowling man next to her and the grey-haired man turned his attention to Liam.

 

“Hi there, my name’s-“

 

“David yeah, I heard.”

 

The man didn’t even blink at Liam’s rudeness and continued on unfazed.

 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you… I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

 

“Alex,” Liam said without missing a beat.

 

The man raised an eyebrow and smiled.

 

“Alex. So I’m guessing you were 'encouraged' to come today. Maybe by your girlfriend?” He said, eyes drifting to Nina.

 

The woman and Liam both began to protest profusely at the assumption.

 

“Oh no, we’re not-“

 

“God no, definitely not-“

 

“There is no way in hell-“

 

David merely continued smiling at the pair as they drifted off awkwardly.

 

“Ok, whatever you say…”

 

Nina cleared her throat.

 

“Anyway… no, it wasn’t me who asked him to be here. But he didn’t really have a choice either.”

 

“Oh, court-ordered then?”

 

“What!” Liam said indignantly. “No! My mother gave me an ultimatum. This or I’m out. Even though I really don’t need to be here.”

 

David nodded knowingly.

 

“I’ve heard that before. But, you know the first step is coming here-“

 

“I’m not in denial.” The dark-haired man said grumpily crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“Well you don’t have to share today if you don’t want to-“

 

“I don’t.”

 

“That’s fine, just listen in then.”

 

Nina said goodbye to the soft-spoken man and turned to the rude one next to her.

 

“What was that?” She hissed.

 

“What?”

 

“I know you’re an arse to everyone. You think you’ve had the hardest life out there. Never mind all the people you've hurt and the family you abandoned, no they don’t have a right to be mad or upset. Only you, poor misunderstood little baby. But even if you justify your childish, spoilt, illegal and immoral actions, that’s no reason to be a shit to nice people who have never done anything to you. David was just trying to be friendly and helpful.”

 

“Well, I didn’t ask him to,” Liam said with a pout.

 

“New flash, idiot. Unlike you, other people don’t have to be asked to be nice. They just are.”

 

Liam sat in a moody silence until the meeting began.

 

“Hi everyone. Welcome back to another meeting. We have some new people here today and because they might be unfamiliar with how our meetings are run, I’d just like to talk briefly about what we do here at NA. We’re not concerned with the types or amounts of drugs used you’ve used, we just focus on the ways addiction and recovery affect our lives. NA meetings are not classes or group therapy sessions. We're not teaching lessons or provide counseling. We’re simply here to share our personal experiences with addiction and recovery. To respect the anonymity of all of our members, we ask that everyone who attends our meetings not talk about who our members are or what they share in meetings outside of this room. I know we have a guest here today who is giving a new member moral support, would anyone like them to sign an attendance sheet?”

 

There was a chorus of no’s before David fixed his gaze on Liam.

 

“Ok then. Would you like to introduce yourselves?”

 

Nina stood up first.

 

“Hi everyone, I’m Nina. I'm the visitor here. Moral support for my friend, Alex.”

 

Nina couldn’t quite fathom why Liam had used a fake name, and oddly his aunt's, but she figured he could call himself Winnie the Pooh as long as he was actually attending the meetings. After the chorus of hellos, she nudged Liam’s foot to get him to stand up.

 

He did so rather begrudgingly.

 

“I’m Alex.”

 

He went to sit back down, but Nina kicked him in the leg making the other members stifle a few laughs.

 

“Ow, ok. Hi, I’m Alex and I’m a drug addict… well at least that’s what my Mom tells me.”

 

He expected a laugh, but the rest of the group remained silent and he sat down again.

 

“It’s nice to meet you Alex. We hope that you’ll feel safe to speak and share your experiences in recovery. We don’t judge here and we’re always willing to listen.”

 

Liam didn’t reply, and David turned to the rest of the group.

 

“So… who’d like to share first?”

 

* * *

 

The second the meeting finished Liam up jumped from his chair and bolted out of the room. He left so fast Nina barely had a chance to shoot David an apologetic glance before she had to run out after him. He was already stomping down the sidewalk when she finally caught up with him.

 

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

 

“Away from you.” He yelled.

 

“You can’t just walk off like that-“

 

Liam rounded on her and began yelling in her face.

 

“I know! I’ll never again be able to have a minute to myself. I know you think I’m selfish, but how do you think you’d handle it if you went from being alone and in charge of your own destiny, to have to answer to a million different insipid and idiotic people? Being monitored wherever you go? To be forced to do a shitty, boring job? I used to be at the front seat of everything! I could roam the galaxy, fly by the seat of my pants! Now I’m not allowed to go out by myself and the worst of all, everywhere I go I’m followed by you!”

 

Nina’s face began to turn purple and she started to scream back.

 

“You think this is a picnic for me? You think you’re the only one whose unhappy in this situation? I’m the fifth kid of two superheroes. And I’m stuck babysitting an entitled prick whose Mom bailed him out of shit. If you were anyone else, you would never been allowed to see daylight again after what you did.”

 

“For christ’s sake, It wasn’t me! No matter how many times I tell you idiots you never-"

 

“You think you can blow up a f _ucking hospital_  and then say it’s wrong for other people to take precautions? And as much as you hate her if you weren’t Kara’s son you’d never even be here. You think you would have left the DEO if she hadn’t agreed to it! But I forgot… none of this is your fault. You are a proven member of Cadmus, but everyone else is wrong for doubting you. And despite all that you’ve done, you still have a mother who adores you and believes in you! And even after you hurt everyone, she still just wants you to be a good person. And what have you done to repay her? Spit on the deal she put her neck out to get you. You don’t cooperate. You start arguments with everyone! How do you think I felt when you left ten years ago. I was eight and I was devastated! I didn’t understand why the boy I adored and looked up to seemed to abandon me. And worst of all, you think it’s ok for you behave like a child and still demand respect. You want us all to treat you different you arrogant toenail? Grow up.”

 

She finished, chest heaving, glaring up at the tall man. He was simply staring at her with a funny look on his face.

 

“Wow. How long have you been holding that one in?”

 

Nina scowled and then she punched him square in the face. He hit the ground with a thump and she began to walk away.

 

“You know what! Just go to prison. It would be easier for everyone, especially me!”

 

“For fuck’s sake, did you have to punch me in the face?” Liam said running after her and making her stop.

 

She watched as his nose realigned itself and his split lip healed.

 

“Look,” he huffed. “I know I’m an asshole. And I’m not trying to excuse it, but you’ve got to understand I’ve been an asshole for a long time. It’s difficult for me to change that in a week.”

 

Nina rolled her eyes and Liam held his arms up in surrender.

 

“I know, I’m sorry alright? I’m sorry. I promise that I’ll try to be less of a prick from now on ok? I know this isn’t your ideal job. But I’m not the person you think I am either, ok? I didn’t do it, I didn’t blow that hospital up.”

 

Nina stared at him with hard eyes.

 

“I don’t believe you.”

 

Liam let out a sigh.

 

“But…” she continued, “You must be convincing someone that you’re telling the truth. They’re reinvestigating… vigourously.”

  
“What?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “Who convinced them to do that?”

 

The wavy haired woman stared at him and quirked her own eyebrow.

 

“Your mother.”

 

“Lena?”

 

“No,” she said shaking her head. “Kara.”

 

Liam looked shocked before his face took on a troubled look and Nina sighed and rubbed her forehead.

 

“Look, I’m tired. Why don’t we just go back to the apartment and get some sleep. I’m sure your Mom wants to hear about you’re meeting.”

 

“You know…” He started “it’s still pretty early. Why don’t we get some dinner. My treat? Well, technically it’s my Mom’s treat, she gave me some pocket money.”

 

Nina couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

 

“And you wonder why people call you a child.”

 

“Actually no,” Liam said with a smile. “I’ve never wondered about that. I know I’m young at heart. But at least I’m not pre pubescent like you Tweety.”

 

She scowled.

 

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

 

Liam laughed.

 

“You know, you’ve had the same pissed off expression your whole life. So what do you say? Apology hot dog?”

 

She hesitated, but caved quickly when her stomach rumbled.

 

“Alright then, hurry up. I’m hungry.”

 

* * *

 

After they’d bought their hot dogs (seven each), they sat down on a park bench and horsed them down together.

 

“Shesh may hab a poin abou our eading”

 

“Humgh?”

 

Liam swallowed before repeating himself.

 

“My mother. She may have a point about the way we eat.”

 

Nina wiped away the mustard on the corner of mouth before replying.

 

“Speak for yourself. At least I have the excuse of a ridiculous alien metabolism. You’re just being a greedy human being.”

 

“Actually,” Liam said, finishing off his last hot dog. “One of the effects of my upgrades is an increased metabolism.”

 

Nina looked at him curiously.

 

“What else?”

 

Liam gave her a suspicious glance before his gaze softened.

 

“Well,” he said thinking. “There’s the metabolism, and you know about the drug release one. I have an adrenaline one, it floods my body when I need a boost in a fight. I’ve had a translator chip installed and my sensory processes had been improved. I can vaguely see heat signatures when I get really stressed. I have really good night vision now too. There’s a bunch more, but I can’t really explain it. There were a lot of surgeries at the time and Cadmus wasn’t exactly sharing that information with me. I don’t know why I can run faster now, that my strength has increased so much. And I really don’t know about the healing. The most I’ve ever tested it was when I accidentally got my arm cut off.”

 

Nina looked at him in alarm.

 

“How did you accidentally do that?”

 

“Well, I doubt many people cut their arms off on purpose. I was in a fight with a group of bounty hunters who thought I’d… taken their bounty. I tried to explain to them that the prisoner just preferred to come with me, I’m pretty sure it was because I was better looking. Anyway, they didn’t take that well. Somehow, my arm ended up on the receiving end of an industrial angle grinder and they left me there to bleed out. I woke up a day later with a new arm and a better aim, so it all worked out for the best really.”

 

She stared at him in shock, before she frowned curiously.

 

“If you heal like that, how come you-“

 

“Have the scars on my chest?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Liam stared at her, his eyes shadowed before he replied quietly.

 

“I got them… before the surgery.”

 

There was a silence between them before Liam asked her a question.

 

“Were you really devastated when I left?”

 

Nina looked up at him in surprise.

 

“Well… yeah. You were my best friend. I was so young, and you were the only older kid that gave me the time of day. I was convinced I was going to marry you one day.”

Liam looked at her in shock.

 

“Really?”

 

Nina was glad it was dark and could hide her small blush of embarrassment.

 

"I was a child!"

 

Liam looked at her with a soft expression.

 

“I’m sorry, really. I know it doesn’t change anything, but you were one of the last people I wanted to hurt. You were like, my only friend too.”

 

She sighed before lightly punching him in the shoulder.

 

“You’re right, it doesn’t change anything.”

 

His face fell and Nina smiled.

 

“But thanks for trying.”

 

* * *

 

Lena was writing an email at the kitchen table when Nina and Liam returned from the NA meeting. There had been tension with her son ever since she’d yelled at him at the DEO. The next day’s breakfast was spent in a tense silence and they didn’t speak the whole day even when she drove him to his surgery. Even though she was mad at him, the waiting time was tense as she watched the operation to remove the tiny device from Liam’s spinal column. A special surgeon had been required to perform the operation while Alex merely assisted. Part of the difficulty of the surgery was figuring how to extract the chip before Liam’s wounds closed. The improvised way was fairly brutal, they continuously injected a flesh eating compound that caused the muscle and skin to recede for long enough to remove it. They also had to keep the anaesthetic on a heavy drip to ensure that Liam stayed under. A few hours later though, he was allowed out and walking around like he didn’t just have major surgery. However, the silence between them continued and Liam still wasn’t talking to her when he left with Nina to attend his first meeting. So when he walked back in the door afterwards, Lena tensed. She assumed either his moody silence would continue, or he would explode. Either one, she was not keen to entertain.

 

She was somewhat surprised when her son walked in with a smile on his face, even holding the door for Nina to walk through first. Liam shot Lena a warm smile when he saw her.

 

“Hi Mom. Do you mind if I talk to you for a second?”

 

Nina looked at Lena’s tense face and cut in.

 

“I think I’m going to head to bed. Good night Liam, night Auntie.”

 

At the sound of Nina’s door closing, Liam walked towards his mother and sat next to her before he began speaking softly.

 

“I know I’ve been behaving like a shithead and I know you don’t like me swearing but it’s true. I’ve hurt you, astronomically. I didn’t do all the things I’m accused of, but you’re the only one who believes me and I am so grateful. You’ve gotten me a chance and all I’ve done is complain. I’m just… this has been difficult for me. I’m sorry.”

 

“Liam,” Lena said placing her hand on his. “You’re my son-“

 

“Mom, you can’t keep saying that to make my mistakes ok.”

 

“I’m not darling,” she said trying to reassure him. “But I know you, you’re a good person. You have so much of your mama in you. I know you don’t like to hear it, but it’s true. You have to heart of a hero, both you and your sister. I just want to give you a chance to show it.”

 

Liam remained silent before he asked softly.

 

“Is it true that she reopened the investigation into the bombing?”

 

“Nina told you?”

 

“So it is true?”

 

Lena paused before answering.

 

“Yes.”

 

Her son hummed and stood so that he could look out of the the full wall windows and over the city. She hesitated before moving to stand next to him. She then put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“She didn’t believe me.” He said bitterly.

 

“Honey, after what you did to her, would you?”

 

Liam paused before turning to her with a desperate expression.

 

“Mom, It wasn’t my fault-“

 

“Yes it was Liam. You used her.”

 

He looked at her affronted and his eyes darkened with anger. He turned to look out of the window again.

 

“It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t.”

 

The CEO didn’t reply, choosing to remain in silence. A few minutes passed before he asked another question in a calm tone.

 

“Is she doing it for you, or for me?”

 

“I don’t know Liam. But what’s important is that she’s doing it at all.”

 

* * *

 

Bob had decided Liam had proven his dedication to the mail enough, that he could now be trusted to deliver it. The young man was originally ecstatic for the opportunity to escape the confines of the mailroom, but soon wished he was back sorting. Evidently, the news that Lena Luthor’s son had returned from his decade away ‘traveling’ had spread like wildfire throughout the building. Nearly every single person he delivered to, wanted to engage him discussion.

 

“A long time away, huh?”

 

“Where did you visit?”

 

“What have you been doing?”

 

“Remember me, Mr. Luthor? Your mother brought you to visit my department every time you visited the company as a child.”

 

“You look so much like your mother.”

 

“You’ve gotten so tall!”

 

“Such a handsome young man.”

 

“So… you’re delivering mail huh?”

  
Yes. All over. Traveling. Of course I remember. Thank you. Thanks. Yes.

 

Ughh. It made him wish for the days when everyone was too terrified to look at a Luthor, let alone ask them questions. It also made his job three times as long, something his supervisor loved to point out. Nina, however, seemed to find the new situation assuming. Every time he had to listen to some old scientist’s anecdote about the first years of the move to National City, she would sport a cheshire cat grin at his uncomfortable expression. He was utilising every single inch of his limited politeness, but sometimes he desperately wished to tell the old farts to shut up with their endless conversation. But… he had a promise to maintain.

 

Not being an asshole was hard.

 

After he finally managed to escape from the well meaning woman’s rambling, Nina nearly doubled over in laughter.

  
“Wow, you really were serious about being nicer.”

 

Liam shot her a nasty look, but tried to maintain a dignified silence.

 

Still, she continued to laugh.

 

“You know, you don’t have to an asshole to tell them you need to get back to work.”

 

“Well I’m a Luthor. You either commit completely, or not at all.”

 

Liam trailed off at the end and began stretching his neck. Nina noticed his weird behaviour and frowned.

 

“Hey Luthor? Come back to planet earth.”

 

“What? Oh, yeah.”

 

He rushed to push his mail trolly into the closing elevator.

 

“Hey, hold it!”

 

The man inside put his arm between the closing doors which allowed them slip in. Nina gave the middle aged guy a smile. The man smiled back and Liam’s eyes drifted over the charcoal suit and stiff posture. Probably another snotty business man.

 

Liam realised his attention had drifted off again when Nina poked him.

 

“Hello in there? This is our floor.”

 

“What? Oh ok.”

 

Liam and Nina followed the man who had already exited and was walking down the corridor and towards the mailroom. Liam stared intently at the guy’s back and his attention was broken again by Nina.

 

“Seriously, what is up with you Luthor.”

 

Someone else wouldn’t have noticed it, but other people hadn’t been trained by Cadmus and spent nine years hunting dangerous bounties. The second Nina said the name Luthor, the older man had hesitated a half step. Liam pushed the mail cart to the side and slammed the other man against the wall, pinning him. The man let out a surprised grunt.

 

“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” He exclaimed.

 

“How many of you are there?” He growled out, ignoring the other man’s protests.

 

“What on are you talking about! You’re insane!”

 

“Yes. And in a minute I’ll still be insane, and you’ll be dead.”

 

Liam twisted the older man’s arm behind his back when Nina called out in a cold voice.

 

“Liam. Let him go.”

 

The dark haired man refused to let his eyes move from the man in front of him, but he knew that the woman would have pulled her gun on him at this point.

 

“Nina… he’s Cadmus.”

 

The girl scoffed.

 

“And the hell would you know that?”

 

“Hey lady, get him off me!”

 

“You, shut up,” Liam snarled banging the other guys forehead against the wall.

 

“I won’t say it again. Let him go.”

 

“Nina,” Liam said slowly. “I need you to listen to me. He’s Cadmus, I can sense it.”

 

“What? Are you Spiderman now?”

 

Liam paused briefly before he made a decision and broke the man’s arm. The man collapsed in pain, and the younger man turned to face Nina.

 

“See Nina! He-“

 

“Get down on the floor!” Nina shouted, still pointing her gun at his head while turning from the man writhing on the ground.

 

“No, Nina wait-“

 

Suddenly, she was thrown to the ground by the angry older man. His healing arm circling around her legs as he dragged her down. Before he could do anything else, Liam had pulled him off the female agent and thrown him into the ceiling. Nina scrambled to her feet and the two began to advance on the winded man. He flung a wild fist at her face, which she narrowly avoided and he instead impaled himself up to his shoulder in the concrete wall. Before he could release himself, Liam wrapped his arms around his neck, and when he had him in a solid headlock, he snapped his neck.

 

The man flopped over and Nina stared at the dead body. Liam, on the other hand wasted no time frisking the man. He retrieved a gun and a couple of knives, but other then that the man was clean. He didn’t even have a phone.

 

“Fuck,” Liam muttered standing up. “I think he was working alone, but it’s hard to tell.”

 

“Well,” Nina stuttered out. “Doesn’t he have a communicator?”

 

Liam leaned down and quickly cut off the man’s left ear. The efficiency of it shocked Nina, but she composed herself when he held it up to show her. A loose wire hanging from it.

 

“In built. Standard.”

 

Liam quickly knelt back down and held the knife against the man’s throat. Before he could make the stroke, Nina heaved him back by his shoulder.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” She proclaimed.

 

“Trust me,” Liam said his eyes trained on the other man’s back. “He isn’t going to stay out long. You don’t want him to cause trouble? I need to make him lose enough blood to stay unconscious.”

  
Logically Nina knew that he was right. The man seemed to have the same regenerative powers as Liam, which probably meant his neck was nearly healed already. But it was different to know it, then to believe it.

 

“Nina,” Liam said interrupting her introspection. “I need to do it now.”

 

She released his arm and gave him her nod of permission, but she looked away when Liam almost severed the other man’s head. The blood began to pool instantly and Nina stepped away before it hit her shoes.

 

“Now what are we going to do?” She asked.

 

Liam shrugged.

 

“You work for a clandestine organisation right? You should probably call them for pickup and cleanup. I’m gonna make sure the rooms in this hall are empty just incase anyone is inside. The last thing we need is for them to see this. You better stop the elevator from opening if someone wants to come down. And call the DEO!”

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, the storage and mail rooms were clear. Bob had evidently taken his lunch break. The DEO took a ridiculously short time to arrive and before Liam could even nod a hello, his aunt had him pinned on the floor and in cuffs.

 

“Agent Danvers, he was just protecting me. This guy is Cadmus!”

 

“And how do you know that?” The redhead said eyeing the silent Liam.

 

“I could sense it.” The man said simply.

 

Alex snorted. “What? You could sense it? What does that mean?”

 

The man replied slowly as a pair of agents hauled him to his feet.

 

“We all had implants put in to sense other agents. I thought I’d managed to fry mine, so I didn’t think anything of it first when my eyes kept being drawn to him. I got an itch in my neck, it used to burn when another agent was nearby. But I just knew when, the second he heard my last name, he missed a step.”

 

The redhead stared at him before she sighed and gestured to the agents to release him.

 

“Ok,” she said while the man rubbed his wrists potintedly.

 

“But you’ll still have to come with me right now to the DEO. And this time, you won’t get away with dodging questions.”

 

“Alex,” Nina began, “Some one will have to tell Lena what happened.”

 

“I’ll go with you. Liam can head back to the DEO with the team.”

 

Liam paused when the elevator carrying them reached the lobby and he and the other agents stepped out.

 

“Auntie Alex?”

 

The older agent blinked, Liam hadn’t called her that with affection in his voice in a long time.

 

“Yes…?”

 

“Could you tell Mom not to worry to much? Tell her I’m ok?”

 

“Sure,” she replied softly and his face relaxed.

 

The doors closed on his face and Alex let out a sigh. At Nina’s questioning face, the redhead replied.

 

“Just when I thought things couldn’t get more complicated.”

 

* * *

 

"WHERE IS HE?" Lena shouted as she ran into the main hub of the DEO, Alex and Nina trailed behind her.

 

J'onn raised his hands in a placting manner.

 

"He's fine Lena. But he needs to be debriefed. He's waiting in an interragation room."

 

There was a fast woosh of air and Kara landed next to her and faced J'onn.

 

"What happend?" She asked her voice deadly.

 

"We don't completely know Kara." Alex answered.

 

"A Cadmus agent turned up at L-Corp. Liam spotted him and we got into a fight." Nina interrupted.

 

Superwoman turned her gaze to Nina.

 

"Do you know for sure this person was Cadmus."

 

The younger woman shrugged her shoulders.

 

"No... but what Liam said about him made sense. I believe him." She finished simply.

 

The blonde stared at her briefly before her eyes fluttered back to J'onn.

 

"He's getting debriefed?" She asked seriously.

 

"Yes. I'm sending Alex in now."

 

"No," Kara protested shaking her head. "I'll do it."

 

The rest of the group their eyebrows in unison and J'onn began to protest.

 

"Superwoman, I don't think that's a good idea..."

 

"I don't care J'onn, I'm doing it."

 

It was Alex's turn to try and talk her out of it.

 

"Kara-"

 

"It's a good idea."

 

Everyone turned to face Lena who had cut Alex off. The dark-haired woman was staring intently at the blonde as if she was trying to convey a message with her eyes. The other woman seemed to understand it, whatever it was, and nodded grimly. She turned on her heel and marched down the hall towards to room where Liam was being held. Nina hesitated, before running after her and called her name.

 

"Auntie Kara?"

 

The older woman paused and faced Nina who met her eyes with determination.

 

"I was the one who slipped. I didn't peg that the guy was an agent. Liam did. He tried to tell me but I didn't believe him. I don't know what would've happened if he didn't help me."

 

Kara stared at her hard before she pulled her pseudo niece into a tight hug.

 

"I'm glad you're alright Tweety."

 

Nina rolled her eyes at the ridiculous pet name.

 

"He did the right thing, Auntie." She finished gently.

 

The blonde released her and drew back, her eyes drifting to the entrance of the interrogation room.

 

"Do you trust him Nina?"

 

The younger woman paused, a bit taken aback by the question. Her eyes also drifted to the door.

 

"More then I did this morning."

 

Kara's eyes glazed over briefly before she grasped the door handle and entered the room.

 

The dark-haired man turned his gaze to her but didn't say anything as she sat in the chair opposite. They stared at each other for a few minutes, assessing.

 

"You're debriefing me?"

 

Kara's mouth tightened before she answered.

 

"Yes."

 

Liam stared at her again, before he sighed and scratched his beard.

 

"Well, I suppose you better get started then."

 

* * *

 

_"What are you?"_

 

_"I'm nothing."_

 

_The cybernetic man slapped Liam across the face._

 

_The chains holding the boy's hands to the ceiling clanged, and he spat out blood._

 

_"I said, WHO ARE YOU!"_

 

_"I'm nothing."_

 

_Another hit._

 

_"WHO ARE YOU!"_

 

_"I'm nothing."_

 

_A third slap._

 

_"No," the dark skinned man said leaning over Liam._

 

_His fresh blood ran from his face and dripped onto the stained concrete floor._

 

_"You are Cadmus."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it feel free to leave a comment... and if you didn't like it, feel free to leave a comment :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. This one's a biggie for me. Started work again today, so my writing time will be becoming a bit squished. But, I still have a goal of updating at least once a week. Also, I hope this chapter makes certain characters a tad more likable, if not that's cool too. There seems to be three camps atm, people who love Kara and Kia, people who love Lena and Liam and people who are reserving judgment (I will be interested to see if anyone's opinion changes). Let me know if you enjoy! I love to get comments and feedback :)

_“Why do you think so many aliens come to Earth?”_

 

_“What do you mean?”_

 

_The two teenagers were lying down in the National City park on a beautiful sunny day. Staring up through the branches of the trees and into the sky._

 

_“I mean,” the older boy continued propping himself up on his elbow to look down at the other teen. “They all seem to turn up here.”_

 

_The younger boy laughed._

 

_“Well maybe Earth is just becoming more…universal? Like before we weren’t approachable because we thought we were the only ones in the galaxy, but now… We’ve gone from a domestic airport to an international one.”_

 

_The older boy lay back down flat and frowned._

 

_“Yeah, but people in airports are transient. The aliens coming here aren’t leaving.”_

 

_The other boy shifted uncomfortably on the ground._

 

_“Well, maybe one-day humans will go to other planets and move there.”_

 

_“But don’t you think it’s a little unfair that they can stay here forever? We don’t have the same luxury at the places they came from.”_

 

_“Why?” The younger boy asked, turning around to his front and looking down at the fair boy. “Do you wanna leave Earth?”_

 

_The blonde boy smiled up at him before he pulled him down for a kiss._

 

_“Only if you came with me, Liam.”_

 

* * *

 

Kara and Liam had been in that room for fourteen hours. 

 

Fourteen hours and no one knew what was going on. It was an isolated interrogation room, so there was no way to visibly look into what was occurring. And J’onn was fairly certain the reason they weren’t picking up audio or video was because Kara had fried it. Alex went to investigate after half an hour and was told by an irate Superwoman not to interrupt the debriefing again or she would fly her to the moon.

 

After that, no one even walked near the door.

 

Lena and Nina had been taking alternate turns napping in their chairs while trying to keep abreast on the information being retrieved out of 'formerly half beheaded' suspected Cadmus agent, but thus far he wasn’t talking. They also weren’t getting far with the technology they had been able to extract from the man’s body. They were already limited with what they did get, but like with Liam, they didn’t want to kill him.

 

“He’s been decapitated! How much more dead can he get?”

 

A retired Winn had been dragged out of his bed to come help to find any clues to the man’s identity or motives. He had been a bit shocked to see Lena, but after a second he pulled her into a deep hug.

 

“Lena! What are you doing here? Did they drag you from your apartment to work on this too?”

 

The CEO was a bit taken aback by the man’s apparent ignorance of the current situation.

 

“No Winn… I’m waiting for Liam to out of a debriefing.”

 

The other man was dumbstruck and turned to find a grim Alex and J’onn frowning at him.

 

“Wait, what? Is Liam alive? Is he back? For how long?”

 

Nina was the one to reply.

 

“About a week Uncle Winn.”

 

The technician’s eyebrow’s nearly hit his hairline.

 

“A week!!! Why did no one tell _me_?”

 

“It was need to know Mr. Schott” J’onn grunted, but still looking slightly sheepish. “There was a lot of… loose ends to tie.”

 

“What are talking about? My nephew turns up after ten years and no one outside of the ‘inner circle’ is told? This doesn’t just effect you guys you know!”

 

“We’re aware Winn,” Alex said placatingly. “We just needed all the facts first.”

 

The man muttered to himself, saying that regarding anything around the DEO you never got ‘all the facts’. But he returned to his work all the while shooting Alex and J’onn looks of irritation. The redheaded woman sighed and went to go interview the man herself. She needed to keep busy and it was either this or punching something. She had been here for over twenty-four hours herself, and her wife was sending her texts that she was ignoring. It probably would have better if she’d answered them because no sooner had she turned to go speak to the unnamed man then her wife and daughter walked out of the elevator.

 

“Jamie? What are you and your mom doing here?”

 

The younger redhead rolled her eyes at her mother’s question. 

 

“We were supposed to be having a family dinner remember? Don’t worry, it’s not like I flew from Gotham to get here,” she replied sarcastically. 

 

“She gets that from you,” Alex said looking at Maggie with accusing eyes.

 

Her wife rolled her eyes but held up her hands in defense.

 

“Hey, at least we’re not the ones who missed dinner. What the hell is going on here anyway? Wait.. is that Lena?” 

 

Maggie ignored Alex’s splutters of protest as she made her way over to the CEO.

 

“Lena, Nina? What are you doing here?”

 

Instead of answering, the green eyed woman turned to face Alex and raised an accusing eyebrow. Suddenly, Winn sounded out from behind the desk he had stolen.

 

“Oh don’t worry Mags. That’s ‘need to know’.” He said, shooting Alex a venomous look.

 

The Latina woman turned to look at the wife, who was now awkwardly avoiding her gaze.

 

“Alex…” she began with a warning tone. “What’s going on?”

 

The redhead hesitated, before replying in an apologetic voice.

 

“Look, I was going to tell you-“

 

“Tell who what now?” Another voice sounded.

 

The group of people turned to see a thirty something year old man walk down the stairs and into the DEO main hub.

 

“Oh for fucks sake. What is this? A bloody reunion party?” Alex muttered under her breath.

 

The man took in the group at large, his eyes lingering on the CEO,before turning to Nina.

 

“What’s going on here little sister?”

 

Nina rolled her eyes at his slightly accusing tone.

 

“Oh, I suppose this gathering of which you know absolutely nothing about must be my fault somehow.”

 

“Woah,” The man said, his face gaining a smirk. “I never said that.”

 

“We all know you were thinking it Carter!” The young woman snapped back.

 

“Alright! Cool it. I don’t know why everyone is turning up at once like this, but here’s the truth. Liam’s back. He has been for a week. He had a run in with, what we think is, a Cadmus operative yesterday.

 

The ring of new faces went through various expressions. Jamie went from shocked to angry. Carter’s went from clueless to surprised. And Maggie’s face become stunned, before it settled into victory.

 

Before the younger people could say anything, she directed a question at her wife.

 

“Is that why the other day you came home talking about him? I knew it! You should’ve known better than to try and hide it from me Alex. I always find out the truth.”

 

“What are you guys talking about?” Jamie asked frustrated. “A lunatic shows up after ten years and the people that have known about it for a week seem completely ok with it!”

 

Lena’s face took on a scowl, but she didn’t get a chance to respond before Nina retorted.

 

“He’s not a lunatic.”

 

The ring of people turned to face the irritated woman, before Carter responded with an indulgent smile.

 

“Ahhh, not even a week back and you’ve changed your tune. What happened to him being a traitor. Did you forget, or does little Tweety Bird have a crush on the emo again?”

 

Nina didn’t reply verbally and instead punched her brother in the face so hard, he fell over.

 

“Oh I’m sorry,” she said sarcastically while Carter picked himself up off the floor and Jamie stifled a laugh.

 

“I slipped.”

 

Carter’s face began to turn purple, when Maggie placed a hand on his chest to keep him back.

 

“Ok you two idiots. That’s enough punching for the day. Jesus, you all behave like children. Worse now actually, because you’ve gone from pulling hair to beating each other up in the MIDDLE OF THE DEO!” She finished with a shout.

 

Carter and Nina looked down at their feet in shame and even Jamie looked cowed, although she hadn’t actually done anything.

 

After the kids had all shut up, the detective turned to Lena.

 

“Now. Since you’re the only person who seems to not be behaving like an idiot,” she said ignoring her wife’s spluttering. “Could you please explain what the hell is going on.”

 

* * *

 

_“I’m sorry Lena,” Alex said in a soft voice before she left the room._

 

_Kara and her wife sat in silence, before the blonde reached over and grasped Lena’s hand._

 

_“It’ll be ok sweetheart.”_

 

_“No!” Lena said with determination in her voice. “I don’t care what anyone says. I can do this!”_

 

_“Lena, baby,” The superhero said crouching in front of her wife to properly see the brunette’s downturned face._

 

_“Look at me sweetheart.”_

 

_The CEO’s eyes moved to Kara’s, and the blonde stroked her thumb across her wife’s hand reassuringly._

 

_“We can adopt. We we’re adopted remember?”_

 

_“I can do this Kara.” The green-eyed woman said determinedly._

 

_“No,” Kara said growing frustrated. “You almost died last time. I’m not losing you again.”_

 

_“Kara-“_

 

_“No Lena.”_

 

_The brunette let out a heavy sigh and tears began to fall down her face. She leaned her forehead against the blonde’s._

 

_“I just wanted….”_

 

_“I know baby,” Kara whispered._

 

_“We’ll find another way.”_

 

* * *

 

The CEO quickly ran through the events of the past week. The detective’s face remained relatively impassive as she took in the information. Jamie and Carter wisely kept their mouth’s shut, but were clearly becoming upset. The news that Liam was allowed out of the DEO’s custody, let alone allowed to work in the L-Corp mailroom like he wasn’t a suspected terrorist, caused their frowns to deepen so much Nina thought their faces would concave. Maggie only reacted twice during the conversation. Once when she heard about Liam’s drug use (something the eavesdropping Winn sighed at) and once when she heard about the circumstances leading up to the current interview with Kara.

 

“They’ve been in there for fourteen hours?” 

 

“Yes,” Lena replied exhaustedly. “And nobody knows what’s going on in that room except for Kara and Liam.”

 

“So she knocked the audio and visual out?” Maggie responded thoughtfully.

 

“Evidently she wants to talk to him privately.” 

 

_“_ For fourteen hours!?” Nina replied incredulously.

 

“Surely it’d only take fourteen seconds to organise a prison transfer,” Jamie grumbled under her breath.

 

“The investigation’s been reopened Jay,” Alex informed her daughter.

 

“What?” Carter asked indignantly his eyes drifting accusingly to Lena. “By who?”

 

“Auntie Kara, actually,” his youngest sibling informed him.

 

Jaime, Carter, Maggie, and Winn all paused and looked at Alex for confirmation. She nodded and cut off her daughter and nephew’s protests.

 

“Look, I'm only giving you lot two options here. You either become useful and help or you leave. Preferably on your way out, head off anymore more people wandering in for the twisted Brady Bunch reunion.”

 

Jaime pursed her lips but went to assist Winn. Her specialty had always leaned more to the technical side.

 

“Well, what can I do to help?” Carter asked.

 

The redhead regarded the thirty-something with a degree of degradation. Carter was really only good at two things; sleeping around and hitting things.

 

“Well,” she began slowly. “I’m sure I’d appreciate a real coffee. Lena, Nina, how about you?”

 

The CEO nodded her assent and Nina smirked and nodded as well.

 

Carter spluttered at the idea of being designated to a coffee run but did as he was told after Maggie eyed him to shut up. After the elevator doors closed behind him, Alex turned to Nina.

 

“What’s you brother doing back?”

 

The young woman shrugged her shoulders. 

 

“I don’t know. Mom and Dad probably sent him to check up on me.” Nina replied bitterly.

 

“I hazard a guess that you didn’t tell them about your bodyguard duties. I’m pretty sure when they sent you to stay with Kara, they didn’t think she’d ask you to become an agent.” Maggie asked.

 

“It was my decision, not their’s. All they see when they look at me is a kid.” She replied angrily.

 

“Ease up there Tweety, no point jumping down my throat,” Maggie said placatingly.

 

A nerve in Nina’s cheek twitched and she ground her teeth at the ridiculous nickname.

 

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” 

 

Lena smiled fondly at the young woman before she wrapped her in a half hug.

 

“Because even though you’re all grown up now, you’re still the baby of the group.”

 

Maggie quirked her eyebrow at Lena’s easy interaction with Nina. She hadn’t seen Lena in a long time granted, mostly because the CEO had been avoiding everyone for years, but she certainly seemed to be more relaxed than Maggie had seen her since Liam went missing.

 

“Hey chica?” she said speaking to Nina. “Why don’t you go see if you can help with finding info on the decapitated guy? I’ll sit with Lena. And you,” she turned to mock glare at her wife. 

 

“Sometimes I forget how a doctor/agent with a Ph.D. manages to be so stupid. I find out everything, no point in hiding it.” 

 

While Alex blushed and fled the scene, the detective turned back to face the now uncomfortable looking Lena.

 

“Come on Lena, let us pull up a chair.”

 

The CEO sat next to her stiffly and Maggie laughed.

 

“Chill, Luthor. I’m not going to interrogate you. I haven’t seen you in years and the first time we meet it’s when your missing child turns up from years away in space. I just wanted to see how you’re holding up.”

 

Lena hesitated before relaxing slightly in her seat.

 

“I didn’t think you’d want anything to do with me,” she said sadly.

 

Maggie raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

 

“How is it that I am surrounded by people with genius IQ’s, and all you guys do is fail to see the nose's on your own faces. You were the one avoiding _my_ calls remember? I wasn’t going to hound you forever when you clearly didn’t want to see me.”

 

“I’m sorry. Really. I just… after everything. I didn’t see how it was possible-“ 

 

“To maintain any connection at all to the huge amount of friends and family you had? So what, you went all Lena Luthor with your martyrdom and ghosted me?”

 

“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else.”

 

“Alex warned you off, I know, she told me.”

 

Lena made a face.

 

“She didn’t warn me off per se, she just wanted me to give Kara some space after what happened.”

 

Maggie laughed humourlessly. 

 

“I think five years is enough space. You know, just because Alex went all ‘mama bear’ with Kara, it didn’t mean I never wanted to talk to you again.”

 

Lena looked slightly surprised.

 

“I just assumed-“

 

“Have you ever noticed,” the detective began, cutting the CEO off. “That nearly every problem in this family comes from assuming shit? One thing happens, and then everyone pings off making assumptions and forming suspicions. Then they’ll band together and pick sides. It’d make an excellent test case for a psychologist. They could call it ‘Super Family and Friends: How Stupid Can They Be’. I mean come on.”

 

Lena laughed, before frowning deeply.

 

“You know, I always wanted a proper family. I had Lex before he went crazy, and then it was just me. That was until Kara came into my life and suddenly I was a member of this huge extended group of people who cared about and loved each other. When Kara and I decided to have kids I was so happy. And even though we had difficulties, at the end of it all we had a beautiful boy and girl who were ours. Then, my son gets poisoned by the old Luthor shadow and becomes something horrible. _Then_ I think he was taken from me for good, either by Cadmus or death. Kara, the love of my life, and I get divorced. My daughter avoids being in the same room as me. But then, a miracle happens, and Liam comes home. And even though he is different, I can see my son in his eyes. Something I thought was lost ten years ago. But my ex-wife can barely stand to look at him, and he her. My daughter is furious. Everyone thinks he’s a monster, and now crazy agents are turning up trying to kill him. Why is my family so broken?” 

 

Lena finished in tears and Maggie wrapped an arm around her.

 

“Jesus Luthor. I reckon you’ve been holding that in for a while.”

 

“I’m sorry,” the other woman sniffled.

 

Maggie let out a sigh and squeezed the other woman’s shoulders.

 

“You never learn, do you? It’s ok to let it out Lena, you’re allowed to be upset. Hell, I am so why shouldn’t you be? This whole thing is some weird shit. And to think, only a small amount of people know that Liam is even home yet. Can you imagine the drama when that drops on the group chat? We’re gonna have to hold a press conference for the family.”

 

The detective succeeded in getting Lena to smile, so she let go of her shoulders before continuing. 

 

“Now I don’t know how to solve all your problems, but I can tell you it’s not as terrible as you’re making it out to be. Kara and Liam are in a room right now having a fourteen-hour conversation Maybe they’ll still come out pretending the other doesn’t exist, but at least they’re talking now. As for Liam himself, he’s back and that _is_ amazing. And you're telling me Kara, the one who was adamant at the time that he goes to prison has reopened the investigation! That means that somewhere deep down, she believes that he’s not all bad either. Now I don’t know if the kid did or didn’t do it, but I don’t think he’s evil. If he’s enduring working in the mail room, he must really be trying.”

 

The CEO laughed properly and wiped her eyes.

 

“You’re right. He loathes that job. I’m pretty sure Nina following him everywhere isn’t helping.”

 

“I don’t know,” Maggie said her eyes turning to the hall Nina had exited into. 

 

“I don’t think she’s hating it too much.”

 

“What?” Lena said not catching Maggie’s words.

 

“Never mind,” the detective replied turning back to look at Lena with a dimpled grin.

 

“So you see? All the things he’s doing is because he loves you! As for everyone hating the idea of Liam being out and about, Lena it’s only been a week. For Carter and Jaime, it’s been a day!”

 

“But it’s only been a day for you as well! And you seem to be taking it ok.” Lena questioned.

 

The smaller woman rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh please. I knew something was up when Alex came home asking me if I would forgive Jamie if she blew up a building. I mean, come on. I was putting two and two together. Besides, I’m betting she was one hundred times more polite the second day. Especially after I told her I would do anything to prove Jamie was telling the truth about the fact that she didn’t do it.”

 

After Maggie finished, the two women stared at the bustling main hub. The detective’s eyes lingered on her daughter, pointing at something on a screen next to Winn.

 

“Not seeing your kid in ten years… I can’t even imagine,” she said softly before turning to face Lena with a smile on her face.

 

“So tell me, what’s he like? I can hardly believe the stick was a bounty hunter! He must have grown a bit.”

 

Lena smiled before launching into a description of Liam as a grown man.

 

* * *

 

_“He’s not in his room.”_

 

_“What do you mean, he’s not in his room!”_

 

_Kara sighed and repeated herself, irritated._

 

_“What I said. Liam. Is. Not. In. His. Room.”_

 

_“Well, where is he?” Lena questioned, frustrated with her wife’s tone._

 

_“If I knew, I would’ve told you!” The blonde cried, throwing her hands up in the air._

 

_“I can’t believe he’s disappeared! It’s his sister’s eighteenth birthday party!”_

 

_“That’s probably why he’s run off,” Kara responded dryly._

 

_Lena felt like throwing something at her wife’s head._

 

_“Well go find him! What’s the use of having Supergirl as your wife, when she can’t even find your errant son.”_

 

_“Lena,” Kara sighed. “Maybe we should just give him some space.”_

 

_“Space!” Lena shouted, beginning to pace the floor. “Why should I give him space! I specifically told him that he had to be there.”_

 

_“Well, I don’t think Liam was exactly excited to attend. Over half the school is going to be there, and he doesn’t even have one friend.”_

 

_“He’s just shy,” Lena muttered. “I didn’t have friends in high school.”_

 

_“Exactly sweetheart,” Kara said understandingly. “And if you were him, would you want to go to this party?”_

 

_The CEO sighed._

 

_“Ok. Just make sure that if he comes back before us, he has something to eat for dinner.”_

 

_The blonde nodded her assent and when her wife left the room she sent her son a quick text._

 

_Mama - She bought it. Don’t come out of your room until the coast is clear if you value your life and mine. Love you, will bring back some cake._

 

_When Liam got the silent text on his phone while he lay in bed, he smiled._

 

_Liam - Thanks Mama_

 

* * *

 

Kia landed on the DEO balcony to a scene so strange she thought she’d transported to another Earth. Her redheaded cousin (who lived in Gotham), was working on a computer next to her Uncle Winn (who was retired) and were both talking rapidly and typing furiously. Her Aunt Alex and Nina were walking out of a corridor whispering seriously to each other. Her obstinate pseudo cousin, Carter, was carrying a ridiculous amount of coffee and handing it out to various people. The strangest of all though was her mom and her Aunt Maggie, sitting on a pair of what looked like fold-out chairs while talking easily to each other.

 

Maggie was the first person to spot her standing mute on the balcony.

 

“Hey Kia, haven’t seen you in a while kiddo. What’s been happening?”

 

The new Supergirl began to splutter, her head spinning.

 

“What’s happening? What’s happening! What’s happening here?”

 

“An attack,” Alex said briskly while walking towards her niece. “By an agent, we think is Cadmus.”

 

“An attack,” Kia said going into fight mode. 

 

“Where, When?”

 

Her redheaded aunt’s gaze flicked to Lena and Kia turned to face her mom.

 

“L-Corp? Are you ok Mom?” She said rushing forward, an involuntarily amount of worry on her face and in her voice.

 

The CEO looked surprised, then her face softened before eventually, it became wary.

 

“Yes… it was at L-Corp. Yesterday.”

 

“Yesterday?” Kia questioned before looking angrily at her Aunt Alex.

 

“Why didn’t anyone tell me!”

 

Everyone stood in an awkward silence before Maggie rolled her eyes at their behaviour and answered herself.

 

“Probably because the agent attacked Nina and Liam. And from what I’ve been told, you tend to stomp out of the room whenever his name is mentioned.” 

 

“Oh,” Kia began poisonously. “From what you’ve been told, huh?”

 

She looked around the room before angrily pacing.

 

“Well then, since everyone else has given their opinion. I’m going to throw mine into the ring.”

 

She stopped and faced the circle of wary people.

 

“My brother,” she spat. “Went to prison after blowing up a hospital. He admitted to being a Cadmus agent, even though he denied the charge. But, after correctly assessing him as a risk, it was decided that he be sent anyway. After two minutes of his time, he was broken out by… oh, wait, Cadmus. Then, according to him and with no other proof, he goes off into space and bounces around chasing bounties. In the time from the arrest to him returning to Earth, he has been modified with implants that directly link him to Cadmus. But never mind how insanely dangerous this would make anyone. And, never mind the fact that he’s a suspected terrorist. Because he’s a darling misunderstood tragic figure, who has successfully managed to convince the people who sent him away in the first place, that he is worthy of salvaging as a human being.”

 

Kia rounded on her mother now.

 

“And you! Don’t worry about the daughter who has been here, for ten years, dedicated to helping and saving this city and its people. No, the second Liam went nuts I was second to your eyes. Never mind what his actions did to me! Or the people who were in that hospital, who died there. No, we all forgot that little detail didn’t we? But in the end, how could I compete, with the misunderstood martyr that you made Liam out to be.”

 

After Kia finished, nearly everyone in the DEO had stopped to listen. The nut brown-haired woman swept her gaze over the lot of them before returning back to her mother.

 

“So, Mom, that’s what I think. That’s my opinion. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to stomp off in a huff.” 

 

She finished her speech and turned on her foot, cape billowing behind her. She headed towards the training room, she really needed to punch something.

 

Her aunt’s and her mom stared after her in silence, before Maggie snorted.

 

“It seems my presence is the catalyst for unloading repressed feelings today. Maybe I should be in that room with Kara and Liam. It might speed up the process.”

 

Alex shot her wife a glare.

 

“It’s not funny Maggie!”

 

The detective arched an eyebrow. 

 

“I didn’t say it was. I just think that this lack of communication is-“

 

“Kia has a point though, doesn’t she?”

 

Jaime had spoken while a coffee bearing Carter nodded behind her.

 

“I mean,” she continued shooting a slightly guilty look at Lena. “We seem to be making a lot of effort to prove an admitted Cadmus agent innocent.”

 

The group was silent. Alex looked at Maggie briefly, before focusing her gaze on Lena. The CEO turned to her and the agent seemed to find something in her eyes. She turned back to face her daughter and raised her hand to trace her cheek.

 

“If it was you honey and you told me you were innocent, nothing would stop me from trying to prove it.”

 

Maggie smiled at her wife and Lena looked at Alex with grateful eyes.

 

The detective stood up and swept her wife and daughter into a tender hug. The older redhead looked at the CEO over the top of her daughter’s head.

 

“I think you should probably go talk to your daughter. I think she might need her mom.”

 

Lena smiled back but shook her head.

 

“I don’t think she wants to see me.”

 

“Well someone should talk to her,” Alex continued.

 

“I’ll do it,” Nina interrupted while everyone turned to look at her.

 

The young woman shrugged her shoulders.

 

“I mean, I don’t know if it’ll do any good. But it might be better for her to have a more neutral ear to listen too.”

 

Maggie smirked to herself. She highly doubted that Nina really was ‘neutral’ when it came to Liam. Carter looked about ready to comment something similar, but the detective kicked his leg and made him spill coffee over himself.

 

While he cursed and the women ignored him, Lena nodded her assent for Nina to go to Kia. 

 

“Well, I kind of want to know how that conversation will go, almost as much as I want to know how Kara and Liam’s is,” Winn said interrupting. 

 

“I’ll give Liam this,” Alex said sarcastically.

 

“He’s definitely brought us all together.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“Don’t you ever feel like you could be doing something more with your life?”_

 

_“What do you mean?” The Culuan woman next to him asked._

 

_Liam smirked down at his girlfriend who was currently ducked down next to him as bullets rained over their heads._

 

_“I mean,” he continued, taking a pot shot over the barricade that caused a cry of pain._

 

_“I know we make a bucket of money, we get our adrenaline thrill and it makes us horny as hell. But do you ever wonder if this is all there is to life?”_

 

_His girlfriend looked at him like he was crazy before she rounded the corner of the barricade and shot down the remaining shooter. As silence rang out and the pair of them peered over the makeshift battlefield littered with bodies, she turned back to him and answered._

 

_“Nope,” she said with a grin. “Besides, it isn’t like anyone misses us.”_

 

_A brief flash of pain crossed the bearded man’s face before it was replaced with a lazy grin. His girlfriend stepped forward and he caught her when she tripped in a pool of blood._

 

_“Too right,” he finished, leaning down to kiss her._

 

* * *

 

Nina felt the vibrations of punching twenty meters away from the training room. When she reached the viewing window she could see the blue-eyed super beating a car to a pulp viciously. Nina would be lying if she wasn’t a little intimidated by the sight. Still, she said she would talk to her, so that's what she was going to do.

 

Pressing the intercom, she spoke to the new Supergirl.

 

“Hey, Kia? It’s Nina, could I talk to you for a sec?”

 

The older girl turned her gaze up to squint at the younger one.

 

“I don’t want to talk.”

 

“Five minutes? Please?”

 

The super sighed, before gesturing for Nina to come down. The brunette walked in to find Kia continuing to pound the car into a clump of twisted metal. 

 

“What do you want Tweety?” She panted out.

 

Nina still hated that blasted nickname, but she let it slide.

 

“Just wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed pretty upset.”

 

Kia sighed and gazed at the scrap metal, giving it one last punch before she turned to face the twenty-one year old.

 

“That’s because I am. Look, tell my mother she doesn’t need to send errand girls to make sure I keep my anger in check and learn to accept the return of her ‘darling’ without anymore outbursts. I don’t need to be censored, I’m not going to change my mind.”

 

Nina was irritated at being called an errand girl.

 

“Can you just chill with the bitchy attitude? I’m not an errand girl, I’m not here cause your mom asked me to, I volunteered.”

 

Kia stared at her unconvinced.

 

“Look,” Nina said now pissed off. “We’ve never been close. You’re ten years older than me, and it’s not like we hung out socially. But I was close to your brother growing up and I’m in charge of watching him now. Plus, I’m pretty sure I’ve spent more time with your mom in the last five years than you have. So if you want your high and mighty ‘opinion’ to be slightly more informed, you should listen to me.”

 

Kia looked a little stunned by the angry shorter woman glaring up at her.

 

“Now, shut up and give me five minutes. If you wanna beat up more cars afterwards, be my guest.”

 

Supergirl looked ready to protest, but seemed to decide against it and instead sat on the body of the ruined car.

 

“Proceed,” she said gesturing mockingly for Nina to talk.

 

The younger woman reigned in her temper before she continued.

 

“Firstly, I think the majority of your opinion is based on your own assumptions. No one is running around forgiving your brother for what he’s done. All that’s occurring, is a reinvestigation of a case that wasn’t conducted properly the first time. The fact is, he was never convicted. I think you need to remember that. Your mother loves you so much, she knew how much it hurt you that she believed Liam, so she gave you space. She’s still giving you space. It wasn’t her fault that the bombing happened.”

 

The older brunette face went through a series of changes. Anger changed to disgust. Disgust changed to anger again. And finally, anger changed to despair.

 

“It’s all so easy isn’t it?” She said sighing and walking away from Nina. 

 

“Thousands of people were in that hospital Nina,” she whispered, her shoulders beginning to shudder with repressed grief. 

 

“My fiancé was in that hospital.”

 

The youngest Super turned to face the other brunette, tears in her eyes. 

 

“Can you even imagine? Not only did she die, the girl I loved, but I find out my brother did it. Can you even imagine?”

 

“Kia,” Nina said gently placing her hand on the taller girl’s shoulder.

 

“Of course I can’t imagine your pain. But… what happened effected everyone. And I think, that you latched on to the first person you could to be responsible. We don’t know if Liam did-“

 

“And that means I should be best friends with him? Bond?” She angrily said, shrugging off Nina’s hand and turning around to face her.

 

“That I should grin and bear it and look at a man who might have killed her. Break bread?”

 

“NOBODY IS TELLING YOU TO FORGIVE ANYONE YOU IDIOT!” Nina screamed, her tolerance reaching it’s limit.

 

“But maybe, just maybe! He didn’t do it, which means that there is someone out there who did. And that person has managed to get away with killing Rebecca and those thousands of other people.”

 

Kia looked ready to hit her, before her whole body collapsed as she wept on the ground unashamedly. Nina felt extremely awkward, she wasn’t known for her sentimentality and this was probably the longest conversation she and Kia had ever had one on one. But in the end, she wasn’t going to leave a distraught woman on the floor.

 

“Hey, hey,” she whispered softly while crouching next to her.

 

“I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but your family’s fucked.”

 

Kia couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Call it the Luthor curse.”

 

Nina laughed with her, before she said softly.

 

“You know… you’re extremely lucky to have two parents who care so much about you. I’m the youngest of five, and my family has spent my whole life trying to keep me in bubble wrap. Your mom’s want you to be happy and follow your dreams! My parents think my dreams are insane.”

 

“Sounds like your family’s pretty fucked too.”

 

“Yeah well, I can either spend my time focusing on that or focusing on living my life. And I’d rather choose the more productive option. And the fact is, even though they annoy the shit out of me. I love my family.”

 

“Even Carter?” Kia said with a smirk.

 

Nine pretended to contemplate the question before she smiled and answered.

 

“Yeah, even him.”

 

Kia laughed before she sighed again and dried her tears.

 

“Who ever thought that Tweety would be giving me life advice.”

 

“Hey! Just because I’m small, doesn’t mean I don’t know shit.”

 

Kia eyed her thoughtfully.

 

“Can I ask you a question?”

 

Nina nodded her assent.

 

“Do you think he did it?”

 

The younger woman let out a sigh.

 

“I don’t know Kia and that’s why owe it to ourselves, and to all those people who died, to find the truth.”

 

“Two weeks ago, you thought like me. Everyone did. What changed?”

 

Nina locked eyes with the other woman.

 

“He came back.”

 

 

* * *

 

_“Kia?”_

 

_The little girl looked up from the seat next to her aunt at her exhaustedly yet ecstatic Mama._

 

_“Do you want to meet your brother?”_

 

_Kia beamed and jumped from her chair._

 

_“Yes! Yes! Yes!” She squealed excitedly._

 

_“Now remember sweetheart, you’ve got to be quiet and gentle with your mommy and the baby.”_

 

_Kia nodded seriously, and Kara swore that expression was all Lena. The pair entered the hospital room where a dishevelled but tiredly happy Lena sat in bed, staring down at the bundle in her arms. The little girl’s expression changed from excited to nervous as she peered at the wrinkly lilttle boy with a tuff of black hair on his head._

 

_“Is it ok if I give him a kiss?” She questioned her parents._

 

_Lena smiled at her an answered for both of them._

 

_“Of course darling.”_

 

_Kara picked up her daughter so she could lean over carefully and place a kiss on her brother’s forehead. The baby stirred briefly before he returned to sleep. Once the toddler was back on the ground she looked up at mom’s ,excited again._

 

_“What’s his name!”_

 

_“We haven’t decided yet. What do you think we should call him?”_

 

_The little girl frowned down at her shoes._

 

_“Well… I like the name Liam?”_

 

_Her mother’s exchanged surprised looks. They had actually been considering the name, and it had made their shortlist._

 

_“Why do you think Liam sweetheart?” Kara asked her daughter._

 

_“Well..” Kia said, her scrunched up face thinking._

 

_“I remembered you and Mommy talking about the boy names and Mommy said Liam meant protector. And you always said to me that our family protects people. So I think that should be his name.”_

 

_Kara and Lena exchanged looks at Kia’s reasoning before both of their faces softened and they smiled._

 

_The blonde leant over her son and place her own kiss on his forehead._

 

_“Welcome to the family, Liam.”_

 

* * *

 

Nina came back into the main hub and walked towards her aunts and gave them a thumbs up. 

 

“I think she needs a bit of time to herself, but she’ll be ok.”

 

Lena’s face changed from tense to relieved. She took the young woman’s hand and whispered her thanks.

 

Alex was a bit surprised at the seemingly positive outcome and questioned her pseudo niece.

 

“What did you say to her?”

 

The young woman shook her head at the redhead’s question.

 

“That’s between us.”

 

The old agent’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline, and she was about to push the issue when Kia herself walked into the main hub. She had changed out of her super suit and into normal clothes, which made her seem ten times less aggressive. Kia walked up the group and crossed her arms with a small frown on her face.

 

“What _do_ we know about this agent?”

 

Alex and Maggie exchanged looks before Lena answered her daughter softly.

 

“Next to nothing.”

 

Kia looked at her mother for the first time since she had come up to the group. 

 

She _really_ looked at her.

 

Her mother looked tired. Bone tired. And Kia began to wonder how Lena was holding up from this insane week.

 

“When did you last got some sleep Mom?” She questioned.

 

Lena didn’t even blink at the question and replied neutrally.

 

“Over a day ago I think.”

 

There was a silence between them before Kia spoke again.

 

“Why don’t you go home and some rest. I’ll fly over and bring you back the second Liam comes out.”

 

Lena hesitated and her eyes flickered to the direction where her son was. Her daughter noticed her hesitation, and while she felt a flicker of irritation she suppressed it. She knelt down next to her mother and took her hand. Lena looked stunned briefly before hiding it behind her eyes. 

 

“Mom,” Kia said sighing and closing her eyes for a second.

 

“The _second_ he gets out. I promise.”

 

The CEO looked into her daughter’s eyes, eyes just like Kara’s. A look so earnest, something she hadn’t seen from them in a long time.

 

“Ok,” she said persuaded. 

 

She stood up from her seat. Kia readied to pick her up to take her back to her penthouse, but her mother paused her with a hand on her chest.

 

“Can we go slowly? I haven’t done this in a while.”

 

Kia gave her an amused smile, something else she hadn’t seen directed at her in years.

 

“Not a problem Mom.”

 

After Kia had picked her mother up and had flown them out of the window, the rest of the group stared after them stunned at what had just occurred. The silence was broken by Carter, who had just returned from the bathroom after trying to scrub the coffee stains out of his shirt. He looked around at the quiet group.

 

“What did I miss?”

 

* * *

 

_“And how much is it?”_

 

_“At least a million credits Liam. We could be living it up for the rest of our lives!”_

 

_The human and the white martian were sitting in a busy bar whispering to each other._

 

_“Gurtag, you know I work alone.”_

 

_“Come on,” the martian whined. “You know I lost my ship in that last bet, I can’t do it without you. And I got you the info!”_

 

_Liam eyed his friend with little to no remorse._

 

_“Your gambling is not my problem mate. And you know that you were only told about the bounty because they knew you’d tell me. I’m the best hunter in three systems and everyone knows it. But it doesn’t matter anyway, I never do landfall on Earth. Never.”_

 

_The martian shook his head at the human’s folly._

 

_“I know, I know. You’ve turned away from three bounties there since I’ve known you. One day you gotta tell me why you won’t go back to your home rock.”_

 

_Liam grunted in reply before taking a sip of his drink._

 

_“Still… a million credits… Might be worth my while to risk it.”_

 

_“See!” The martian said excitedly. “Knew you’d come around! You and me, dead easy.”_

 

_Liam smirked at his friend before downing the rest of his drink and standing up._

 

_“Sorry, buddy. I’m still doing it by myself.”_

 

_“Oh come on!” The martian shouted at the retreating figure._

 

_Liam smiled to himself. One little job on Earth, and he was sitting pretty. What could really go wrong?_

 

* * *

 

After sixteen hours, the door to the interrogation room finally opened. An exhausted mother and son half stumbled out. Once they wandered into the main hub, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at them. True to her word, Kia flew to pick up her mother straight away. Lena was still half asleep when she arrived, but after thanking her daughter she practically ran to her son.

 

“Liam are you ok?”

 

Her boy smiled reassuringly at his mom.

 

“Yeah… I think I’m going to sleep for two days though.”

 

Alex turned to her sister who was staring at her ex and her son with blank and tired eyes.

 

“Are _you_ ok Kara?”

 

The blonde didn’t register her sister’s words for a few seconds but then turned to face the redhead, her eyes regaining life.

 

“Not really.” She whispered hoarsely. Kara’s gaze drifted over the gathered group, her eyes lingering on Kia before she returned her gaze to her son. She hesitated for a second before reaching over slowly and placing her hand on his shoulder. Lena and Liam both turned to look at her. Lena’s eyes wide and her son’s questioning.

 

Blue eyes softened and she gripped his shoulder tight before she stated in a strong voice.

 

“I believe you, Liam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What went on in that room...So did you enjoy? Thoughts below :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok wow. This week was lonnnngggg for me. But, on the plus side, I have more money now so that's always nice.
> 
> So this chapter was a pain in the butt to write. I deleted the whole thing twice and rewrote, because I didn't like were it was going. On that note, this may seem like a bit of a filler chapter. But it's my story and it needs it to move a few plot points forward.
> 
> Also, just in case people were wondering, I have many, many, mannnnyyyyyyy more chapters mapped out for this fic. So all of your questions that you have will not be answered straight away.... basically because I'm evil and I love watching you all squirm.
> 
> I kept my promise of a weekly update, but I will try to be faster next week. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think. I love the comments so type away :)

“But I still don’t trust you.”

 

The smile that had begun to form on Lena’s face disappeared. The rest of the group, whose initial reactions had ranged from happiness, shock and anger, changed to drastically confused.

 

In fact the only face that didn’t change was Liam’s. He merely continued staring at his blue-eyed mother. She stared back with an equal intensity before the man averted his eyes downwards and gave a slight nod. The superhero was spurred into action and grasped his other shoulder as well and gave him a slight shake forcing his eyes back up.

 

“Now or never. Tell me your answer.”

 

The man looked at her defiant, a flash of annoyance growing on his face. But Kara's softened eyes had grown hard as well. Everyone was bracing themselves for an explosion, but in the end Liam simply uttered one word.

 

“Yes.”

 

Kara let go of his arms quickly and squeezed her eyes shut, taking in a breath.

 

“Fine,” she said sternly before beginning to walk towards the balcony. She turned back to face the group stopping on her son.

 

“Six am. Here tomorrow.”

 

“No, Kara wait!” Alex yelled in vain as her sister took off into the sky. The redhead let out a groan and ran a hand down her face muttering.

 

“Sixteen hours of hell, while she has a ‘secret’ debrief, and then she disappears without telling me anything.”

 

The agent snapped her gaze to Liam.

 

“You,” she said pointing to the bearded man.

 

“I’m sure everyone,” she said gesturing to the eavesdropping room at large. “Is dying to know what the  _hell_  is going on!”

 

“Mom-“ Jamie said trying to cut in.

 

“Shh kid,” Alex said trying to turn back to the man.

 

“Babe-“ Maggie said.

 

“WHAT?” Alex exclaimed in frustration turning to her wife. The detective simply pointed at her nephew who was swaying on his feet trying not to fall over.

 

“Don’t you think this could wait until everyone has gotten some sleep? You included?”

 

Her wife huffed in response.

 

“I’m a trained agent. I don’t need sleep.”

 

“Well the rest of us do.” Lena pipped up, looking at her son with concern. She tried to place a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off.

 

“Can we please just go home? I have to be back here at six,” he said tiredly.

 

The CEO pursed her lips.

 

“Why would you have-“

 

“Because  _I’m_  going to interrogate the headless wonder.” He cut in.

 

The group of people looked at him with stunned expressions. Alex, Carter and Nina all looked ready to question him further, but Maggie stopped them.

 

“Right you lot, everyone scatter. If you want to know more, you should probably turn up tomorrow in the morning.”

 

The detective turned to face the, until now, silent Kia. The light haired brunette was still eyeing her brother with distaste before she noticed her aunt’s gaze. The young super quirked her head in question. Maggie gestured for the woman to stay before she turned back to the rest of the lingering group.

 

“Scatter.”

 

Everyone jumped into action. The DEO was suddenly refilled with quiet noise. Jamie, Nina and Carter drifted towards the elevators and hung around while Carter tried to initiate a conversation with his sister that she stoically ignored. Alex’s eyes, flickered between her wife, Lena, Liam and Kia.

 

“Six am?” She questioned her nephew, who nodded in reply. The agent turned her eyes back to Maggie.

 

“I’ll meet you at the elevators in five minutes ok? I just need to pull J’onn away from the interrogation and let him know what’s happening.”

 

“Yeah,” her wife snorted. “Good luck explaining that in five minutes.”

 

The redhead grimaced before walking away and Maggie turned back to the last three people.

 

Kia was still eyeing Liam like a bug she wanted to squish and the decretive couldn’t help the totally inappropriate small smirk that cracked her face. She quickly suppressed it and cleared throat which gained all three people’s attention.

 

“You should probably go then,” she said the to mother/son pair.

 

The CEO nodded and they both began walking. But Liam was stopped by a hard hand on his chest.

 

“I don’t know what went on in that room. I’ve been informed that I don’t have all the facts, so I will try to bite my tongue from now on until I do.” Kia growled forcing her younger brother to look at her.

 

“But  _I_  certainly don’t trust  _or_  believe you. And if you do anything, anything, to hurt anybody here. I will fly you to outer space and let you suffocate to death.”

 

Lena looked ready to say something, but Liam stopped her by replying in a firm voice.

 

“Deal.”

 

If Kia was surprised, she hid it well when he outstretched his hand for a firm shake. She took the hand briefly, before she dropped it and walked off.

 

Maggie gave her nephew a quick look and a strained smile.

 

“You look like crap Stick. See ya tomorrow,” she replied quickly before running after her niece.

 

Liam stared after his sister’s retreating back and frowned slightly, before he silently turned and walked towards the elevators. He ignored the presence of his cousin and Carter before he walked into the opened lift, his mother and Nina following him while exchanging looks.

 

After the doors closed, the young woman hesitantly asked the bearded man if he was ok again.

 

“I’m fine,” he bit out before his voice softened.

 

“I just want to go to sleep.”

 

Back on the main level Carter turned to Jamie.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

* * *

 

_Screaming, so much screaming._

 

_Ash was falling from the sky, smoke was rising from the ground. Everyone who wasn’t buried under the collapsed concrete was covered in blood._

 

_Children were wailing. Parents were crying._

 

_And Liam was in the building next door, a trigger in his hand._

 

_The shadow of his superhero mother landed behind him._

 

_“What did you do?”_

 

_The skinny eighteen year old turned to her, his eyes wide. The device he held clattering to the ground._

 

 

Liam woke with a start. His body was drenched in sweat and he was heaving for breath. The lights were suddenly flicked on and his mother appeared in the hallway from her room clad in a silk nightgown.

 

“Liam?” She said rushing to his side, but the man put distance between them still shuddering 

 

"I need a shower," he muttered before near sprinting from the room.

 

His mother watched him with wide eyes, before turning to face a half-asleep Nina standing in the doorway of her own room.

 

“Just go back to sleep auntie. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.”

 

“I’m his mother. I’ll make him talk to me.”

 

The younger raised an eyebrow and looked ready to respond but swallowed it. Lena still noticed and questioned her niece.

 

“Just tell me.”

 

Nina looked at her surely, before speaking with her usual blunt force.

 

“Well forcing him to talk doesn’t really seem productive. Nobody knows what happened in that room, but it was clearly emotional. He might just need time to process by himself.”

 

“And how much time do you suggest?” Lena said dryly.

 

“Probably about as much time as you’ve given your daughter,” the younger woman muttered under breath.

 

“What did you say?” 

 

“You don’t seem to have the same persistent attitude with Kia.”

 

The CEO’s mouth gapped like a fish, while she struggled to find the words to respond.

 

“Kia’s different she pushed me away after… I needed to respect her desire for space.”

 

The younger woman eyed her with a look of bemusement.

 

“Oh her desire for space. So Liam needs space and you don't give to him, but you  _have_  given Kia space for half a decade. Well now that we know that hasn’t helped for the past five years, maybe it’s time to find a new approach. Like actually talking to her.” She said sarcastically.

 

The green eyed woman’s face flushed with an angry blush.

 

“How dare you-“

 

“You do remember that you actually have two children right? And they  _both_  need you?”

 

The older woman rose from the couch, trying to make her presence more intimidating, but Nina just folded her arms and jutted her chin forward in a challenge and cut off whatever her aunt was preparing to say.

 

“Of all people, I should think  _you_  would understand what it’s like to be ignored by your mother in favour of your brother.”

 

“And where is this coming from Nina? You think because you talked to my daughter for half an hour, you suddenly have a deep comprehension about our relationship? You don’t know anything about her!”

 

The younger grumpily crossed her arms over her chest.

 

“Do you?” She bit back before slamming the door to her room.

 

“Oh for God’s sake.” Lena yelled before sitting down on the couch with her head in her hands.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

* * *

 

When the three of them arrived at the DEO the next morning, no one was talking to each other. Liam wasn’t talking to his mother because he was angry that she insisted on coming with him that morning. He also, for an unknown reason, was completely ignoring Nina. And of course the two women weren’t talking to each other after the debacle last night.

 

Maggie was waiting with a grumpy Carter, who was holding coffee, at the elevator doors. The detective immediately picked up on the tense mood. Before she could say anything, Kara arrived and gestured for Liam to follow her, which he did as Nina trailed behind after they both grabbed drinks from Carter’s tray.

 

The detective turned to face a frustrated Lena.

 

“Trouble in paradise,” she asked sarcastically.

 

The CEO’s eyes snapped to hers and she looked ready to launch into a tirade.

 

“Woah, woah! Calm down, no need to bite my head off. We had our fair share of arguments last night as well.”

 

The business woman took a calming breath before replying.

 

“Well, I doubt it could have been worse than the one I had with Nina.”

 

Maggie let out an amused chuckle.

 

“Sure, sure. My daughter has decided to move back in with us for the time being ‘to protect us from the threat’. What does that even mean? Then she said she wanted to assist with the investigation, into whatever the hell this is, and I agreed because I do too. Then my wife goes nuts, saying she doesn’t want either of us involved in it. Then I told her, she didn’t have a choice because one; I’m going to do it anyway. Two; Somebody sensible needs to hang around here. Three; As much as everyone may be thrilled or detested with the fact that Liam is here, he is still my family. And four; because I’m bloody well going to do it anyway.”

 

Lena huffed.

 

“Well, that might have had more content than mine. Liam woke up screaming in his sleep. I went to comfort him, then he ran off to the bathroom. Nina told me to give him space, and when I said I wanted to help him, she gave me a ‘dressing down’ about my relationship with Kia. How I was giving more attention to Liam.”

 

The CEO was waiting for a response from the detective, and she looked ready to say something but swallowed it. Lena felt a sense of foreboding in her stomach before she asked her next question resigned.

 

“Just tell me.”

 

Maggie eyed her seriously, before beginning in a tactful tone.

 

“Well, let’s be honest. You always had a tendency to favour the stick”

 

Lena looked affronted.

 

“I did not! How dare you say I loved Liam more?”

 

The detective gestured for her to calm down.

 

“I didn’t say you loved him more, I said you favoured him more. You’ve always felt a little bit guilty that he didn’t have the same powers as his mom and sister.”

 

The CEO looked ready to protest, but her angry expression changed to a small and sad one.

 

“I didn’t want him to feel like I did growing up. Like nothing he ever did would amount to his older siblings accomplishments. And Kia… Kia was always so gifted. In everything. She could name every periodic element at age three! At age five, she was beating me at chess. Kia had friends, and was popular and kind and just like Kara. Liam was sad and small in comparison. Then when he got sick…”

 

“You became a completely obsessive mama bear.” Maggie finished dryly.

 

“Hey, look. I get it,” she said in response to Lena’s poisonous look and she continued softly.

 

“I remember him in the hospital. So small. We all thought he might not make it.”

 

The detective placed a gentle hand on the CEO’s shoulder.

 

“But that was twenty years ago Lena. Twenty years! And when he left… Kia was still here you know. She needed her mom. Her fiancé had just died. That’s what Tweety was talking to her about last night. Kia told me.”

 

Maggie paused noticing the stray tear running down the other woman’s face.

 

“Liam isn’t the only one with problems.”

 

“I know that,” Lena said scrubbing her eyes.

 

“I was the one holding her as she cried herself to sleep every night. I was the one who helped with the funeral. I was the one who convinced her to go back to work. I offered her a job at L-Corp, and not because she’s my daughter, because she’s brilliant. But… I can’t push her. I hurt her when I divorced Kara.”

 

The Latina woman threw her hands up in the air.

 

“Well it wasn’t great for the rest of us either! But then you pissed off into oblivion, writing everyone off in your self imposed exile.”

 

“She made a choice. She picked Kara and I don’t blame her.”

 

“Jesus, you lot,” Maggie grumbled angrily.

 

“I’m going to sit all four of you down at some point. Right, what is with this sides crap? What are you, at war?”

 

The detective grabbed Lena’s arm and dragged the protesting CEO to the nearest fresh faced rookie she could spot.

 

“You,” she said pointing to the startled man.

 

“Where’s the nearest empty room?”

 

The boy stuttered and pointed towards an unused conference room which Maggie promptly dragged a flummoxed Lena into.

 

“Sit,” she said pointing at a chair.

 

The CEO looked ready to protest, but Maggie wasn’t to be trifled with and glared at the green eyed woman so intensely that she didn’t say anything and simply sat in the chair.

 

“Ok. So your family has issues.”

 

Lena raised her eyebrows and the detective conceded.

 

“Ok. A LOT of issues. But this isn’t some crazy grand battle between you all.”

 

Maggie took a deep breath.

 

“Look. I’ll be quite frank. I don’t claim that my family is the best example of healthy dynamics. We have had our fair share of ups and downs. But one thing we never do, is stop talking and discussing our feelings with each other.”

 

“Well excuse me, Detective Sawyer,” Lena began, rising from her seat.

 

“But has your family ever had to go through what mine has? Has your child ever joined up with a xenophobic terrorist organisation? The reasons as to why they joined, never been understood?”

 

“Do you even understand, that in that whole statement, you never once mentioned Kara or Kia?”

 

Lena began to storm out of the room, but Maggie stopped her by placing her arm across the doorway.

 

“No, you’re not leaving until you’ve heard what I have to say.”

 

“Move,” Lena uttered in a low growl, her eyes furious.

 

“No.”

 

The two women stared at each other intensely until the tension was broken by a redheaded agent opening the door.

 

“What the hell are you two doing?”Alex hissed looking down at her wife’s arm that barred her entrance.

 

“As if we need more people arguing at the moment. Don’t you two think tensions are already running high enough?”

 

Lena’s eye’s softened. If there was anyone in the family that she related too, it was always Maggie. And in all honesty, she was too old and tired for arguments.

 

“We weren’t arguing. It was just… a difference of opinion.”

 

“A difference of opinion?” Alex said incredulously lookingbetween the CEO and her wife.

 

“Yeah,” Maggie muttered, dropping her arm.

 

“A difference of opinion.”

 

Lena hesitated before she exited the room and turned back to face the detective.

 

“You talked to her last night?”

 

Maggie nodded in response.

 

The CEO hesitated again.

 

“Is she ok?”

 

The cop raised an eyebrow.

 

“Are you?”

 

Lena stared at the other woman before nodding her head slightly and exiting the room. Alex turned to face her wife.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

* * *

 

“You sure?”

 

Liam nodded his assent and Superwoman grimaced slightly before nodding and opening the door. The young bearded man’s expression quickly changed from stressed to bemused as he walked into the room and sat in the chair opposite the nameless suspected Cadmus agent.

 

“Well hello again,” Liam said cheerfully as he propped his legs up on the table and opened his phone.

 

“Hey,’ he began, questioning the other man.

 

“I don’t suppose they gave you the wifi password?”

 

The other man’s eyebrow twitched slightly and J’onn who stood in the waiting room with Kara leaned forward slightly. That was the first reaction they had managed to get out of the other man. They had pressed him psychically for hours, and had gotten nowhere. It was like the unnamed man was brain dead. Though, she thought, maybe being near on decapitated did that to a person.

 

Liam continued on, oblivious to the reactions in the other room.

 

“No? Well, I suppose it’s no use asking you really. You didn’t even have a phone on you when I cut your head off.”

 

The man’s mouth twitched this time and Liam grinned.

 

“Ohhhh, touched a nerve did I? Or several, when it came to your neck.”

 

The man went to lunge across the desk, but was impeded by the reinforced chains around his wrists. The younger dark-haired man hadn’t moved throughout, and the smirk merely grew across his face.

 

“Someone isn’t happy with me.”

 

“Half-breed bastard,” the other man spat out, uttering his first words. Liam’s expression didn’t falter at being insulted and began picking underneath his nails.

 

“Technically you’re wrong there. I’m actually a full human thank you very much. As for the bastard bit, I can’t really comment. Are you still a bastard if your ‘father’ was a sperm donor?”

 

“Traitorous brat,” The man snarled.

 

At that Liam did react, lunging over the table and picking the other man up by his neck which snapped the chains, as he pressed him against the wall. J’onn and Kara’s eyes both widened. Those chains were reinforced, even Kara would’ve struggled to get out of them.

 

“Now, now,” Liam said as the other man clawed at his hand for air.

 

“That wasn’t very nice.”

 

“Liam, let him go,” J’onn said over the speaker.

 

“You wanted me to get information, this is how you get it,” he shouted before turning back to face the choking man.

 

“It’s the only language they understand.”

 

The director of the DEO prepared to enter the room, but Kara’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

 

“Let him do it his way.”

 

“Superwoman,” J’onn growled out.

 

“This is wrong.”

 

She snapped her gaze to the martian.

 

“Well, as far as we know he can’t die. Let him do it his way.”

 

J’onn glared at the blonde woman but conceded still ready to phase into the other room at a moments notice.

 

“Now… what did you mean by that?” Liam continued as he taunted as the other man’s face began to switch between a blue and normal colour as his body healed itself for the oxygen depletion to his brain.

 

“Because, I would consider leaving an organisation that framed you for terrorism,” he squeezed tighter, making the man’s eyes bulge. The scratches he left on Liam’s hand’s healing instantly.

 

“And tortured you.”

 

He squeezed harder again, the bruises around the other man’s neck fading an reappearing fast.

 

“A logical move, not a traitorous one.”

 

Liam eased up the pressure on the other man’s neck, giving him enough air to breathe before punching his spine so hard he broke his back.

 

J’onn made to move into the room to stop what was happening, but Kara stopped him again.

 

“Kara, this is madness!”

 

The blonde’s eyes snapped to his.

 

“He’s said more in the last few minutes, than he has done in a day. Let him do it his way.”

 

“What’s your name friend?” The dark haired man continued as the questioned man’s spine reattached. When the grey-haired man didn’t answer, Liam yanked his right arm behind his back and slammed his head into the table.

 

“I said, WHO ARE YOU!”

 

“I am Cadmus.” The man grunted out in pain.

 

Liam let go of him immediately and exited the room. His super hero mother walked out of the adjacent room with J’onn, the latter man looking at him with clouded eyes. The younger man instead focused his eyes on the outfitted hero, with her arms crossed over her chest.

 

“I told you. It’s a resurgence.”

 

Kara nodded with a bleak expression.

 

“Same as last time?”

 

Liam shook his head.

 

“Cadmus never dies.”

 

The blonde haired woman let out a heavy sigh before nodding her acceptance of his words before walking off.

 

J’onn turned to Liam with an agitated expression.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

* * *

 

Kia landed with a soft thud at the DEO after putting out a small fire and was surprised to see her CEO mother waiting for her.

 

“Is Liam still here?” She asked detachedly.

 

Lena’s mouth tightened a fraction before she answered.

 

“Yes. He’s helping Winn at the moment with algorithms. Your uncle thinks he’s caught a break with the Cadmus tech and Liam’s assisting in narrowing the field.”

 

Kia felt like scoffing.

 

“Liam? With numbers?”

 

“Yes,” Lena answered. “It was rather surprising to me too.”

 

The pair of women shifted in awkward silence before Kia spoke and began walking away.

 

“Well, I better see if anyone needs me for something-“

 

“Was I a good mother Kia?”

 

The light browned girl nearly tripped at her mother’s question.

 

“I beg your pardon?” She asked, assuming she misheard.

 

The green-eyed woman didn’t sigh, but merely held her daughter’s gaze as she repeated the question gently.

 

“Was I a good mother to you Kia. Do you think I favoured Liam.”

 

The younger woman’s lip ached to twitch into a sneer but she repressed it and instead bit out shortly.

 

“Well how am I supposed to answer that mother? Lie, or seem like a total bitch.”

 

The CEO resisted the urge to sigh. She sighed far too much when it came to Kia. And as much as she pained to admit it, Nina and Maggie were right.

 

It wasn’t fair.

 

“You can tell me the truth darling.”

 

Her daughter almost flinched when she heard that pet name and a hand seemed to constrict around Lena’s heart. Kia stared at her for a few moments before turning and looking at the, once again, eavesdropping employees of the DEO.

 

“This is day time soap for this lot,” she commented dryly at which her mother laughed.

 

“Well they need some way to be entertained. After all, they only work with aliens.”

 

Kia let a smile grace her features, before she turned back to face the CEO.

 

“Your weren’t a bad mother Mom. You were a very good mother. But you did favour him more than me.”

 

She put up her hand to stop Lena’s explanation.

 

“Look,” she said frowning at her shoes.

 

“Sometimes its hard for me. To remember what it was like, before everything went wrong. Well that’s not true, with our family things went wrong all the time. But, my point is, that when it went wrong we were all together. You, mama, me and…. Liam.”

 

Her daughter fixed her blue eyes to Lena’s green one’s.

 

“What do you want Mom? Do you want me to tell you we can get that back? That we can all be happy families again?”

 

“No,” Lena said stopping her daughter from continuing.

 

She walked towards her and stood half a head away.

 

“I’m not feeding you a bullshit line Kia. I’m not trying to talk with you with a hidden agenda. This isn’t about your brother or your mama.”

 

“But it  _is_  about them,” Kia said throwing her hands in the air.

 

“It’s always about them!”

 

“Kia!”

 

Her daughter returned her eyes to her mother’s. Lena gripped her chin with strong fingers.

 

“This is about you and me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m your mother, and I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment I knew I was pregnant, and I’ll love you until the day I die. And I’ll do whatever it takes, to fix this,” she said pointing between the two of them.

 

“And our relationship has nothing to do with your brother. And our relationship has nothing to do with your mama. It’s just you and me, you and me. No one is between us,” she continued gripping her daughters hand’s in her own.

 

“I want to try. Please. Can we try together?”

 

Kia squeezed her eyes shut and let a small sound escape her.

 

“Dinner at seven tomorrow night. Antonio’s on the marina.”

 

Lena hesitated before replying.

 

“Kia, I can’t tomorrow. It’s your brother-“

 

Her daughter let out a scoff, but before she could bite back the CEO finished her sentence.

 

“-’s birthday.”

 

The super blinked in shock at the apologetic woman and she felt a pang of guilt. She rubbed her eyes, and responded after a brief pause.

 

“Bring him.”

 

It was Lena’s turn to be stunned.

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

Her daughter let out a heavy sigh.

 

“Just bring him to dinner… and Nina. Bring Nina as well. Our first dinner together, it might be good to have someone to focus my anger on,” she finished, giving her mother a wry smile.

 

The green-eyed woman returned it hesitantly before nodding.

 

“Seven?”

 

“Seven.”

 

After the super had swooped away to go deal with another problem, Nina who had been watching the interaction walked over the Lena on the balcony. She coughed to get the CEO’s attention who turned to stare at her in silence.

 

“Look, I’m sorry about last night.”

 

Lena merely continued to stare at her and Nina grew frustrated.

 

“But you were in the wrong too.”

 

“Oh?” The CEO asked bemused. “And what exactly did I do. Did I, unprovoked, go completely off my head at a ridiculously early hour as a guest staying in someone else’s home?”

 

“Well no,” Nina said grumbling to her shoes.

 

“You want to know why everyone treats you like a child Nina? It’s because you behave like one. You think you know everything better. You fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. You have no self restraint and you think its ok to come up to  _me_  and ask for an apology for the way  _you_  behaved last night. No wonder your parents sent your brother to watch you.”

 

The CEO walked off and left an embarrassed Nina standing alone.

 

A blonde agent nudged the man next to him as they listened in on the conversation.

 

“This is insane!”

 

“I know right? I wonder what the hell's going on?”

 

* * *

 

Lena was sitting by herself, furiously typing away on her phone. She had taken more days off since her son had returned then she had in years, but she still had a company to run and she would do all she could remotely. Besides, she had no idea what was going on around here, in fact  _nobody_  seemed to know what was happening. She had asked Winn if she could help with something after Liam disappeared into a lab with Alex for ‘testing’, but he said he was mostly going to be sitting around waiting for his satellite to find anything.

 

“We think we may be able to locate other agents if they’re are any, through a chip that was implanted in Liam by Cadmus to keep track of their agents. He fried it apparently when he left the organisation, but it may still be useful. That’s where Alex has him now, they need to do more invasive scans incase he has anything else implanted that they didn’t tell him about. I mean it’s weird right? Liam returns and then suddenly an agent turns up at L-Corp? I mean, there has been zero chatter from Cadmus in ten years and now they make a come back? Somethings up.”

 

Lena took it in her stride, she hadn’t been privy to any information that may be trading across the floor at the moment, but she could form her own conclusions.

 

She knew, that with this ‘mystery agent’ turning up meant a lot of eyes would be looking at Liam. Evidently he had agreed to help with the investigation into what ever was going on. The CEO still didn’t know what happened in the room between Kara and Liam for them to suddenly be working together so determinedly.

 

But if she thought too hard about it she would go mad, hence why she was now trying to distract herself with work outside the med bay doors until she had all the information to even start forming conclusions.

 

“Lena.”

 

The CEO’s eyes flickered upwards from her phone to find a slightly guilty looking Maggie holding an outstretched coffee.

 

“I made Carter do another run. Here,” she said handing it to Lena.

 

“Truce?”

 

The green-eyed woman nodded to the detective who sat down on the chair next to her.

 

“Look, I’m sorry for how I spoke this morning. I still believe what I said, but I did jump down your throat. It’s just this,” she said gesturing to the room at large.

 

“Is completely insane. And if it’s not easy for me, it definitely can’t be easy for you. Your son turns up after a billion years, and now you have Cadmus agents popping up in your building. That, and you're involved in this mega top secret no one knows what the hell is going on investigation. You don’t need more family dramas at the moment.”

 

The CEO smiled slightly before she responded.

 

“No, you were right. And I think it’s actually a good thing it was brought up now. This whole situation has been crazy, but at the same time I’ve talked to my son, daughter, Kara and the rest of you idiots more in the last week, than in the last year.”

 

The woman let go of a sigh she’d been holding in.

 

“I don’t know what’s going on. But I do know that this,” she said also gesturing.

 

“Is changing everything. And as a Luthor, it is biologically imperative for me to use it to my advantage. Having relationships with both of my children is my priority now.”

 

Maggie hummed her agreement before she continued.

 

“You know we still love you right? Your kids, me, Alex. I know she’s nuts, but she really does care. She just wanted to protect Kara, you know?”

 

Lena nodded her acknowledgment.

 

“I know.”

 

“But… she just wants Kara to be happy again. She’s been a zombie for years now. I can’t remember the last time she laughed.”

 

A flash of pain crossed the other woman’s face.

 

“I know. I know it’s my fault.”

 

Maggie was silent for a bit.

 

“She still loves you, you know. That’s never changed.”

 

“She shouldn’t,” Lena said sorrowfully. “Not after what happened.”

 

“Hey, you made the choice to divorce her.”

 

The CEO fixed the other woman with an intense look.

 

“I broke us. It wasn’t something to glue back together again. The problems weren’t going to go away. We would have been miserable together, and I wouldn’t have been able to look in her eyes.”

 

“So you punished yourself again? And, no offence, you both seem pretty miserable apart.”

 

Lena was about to reply when the other woman under discussion turned the corner and walked towards them.

 

“Waiting for Liam?” She questioned the two briskly.

 

“Nope, not me,” Maggie said standing up.

 

“I was just having a chat with Lena. But I think I’m going to go see what Jamie is up to. And someone needs to keep an eye on Carter before he walks off the balcony.”

 

The detective walked off leaving Kara and Lena in an awkward silence.

 

“You didn’t break us you know.” The blonde said after a pause.

 

Lena tilted her head and sighed.

 

“How much did you hear?”

 

“Just the end,” the superhero said before taking the seat next to the CEO.

 

The silence drifted over the two of them again.

 

“It was my fault too.”

 

“With all that happened,” The CEO said, shaking her head. “It wouldn’t have-“

 

“I could have fought harder Lena,” the blonde said interrupting her.

 

“But I was just so tired. All the fights. All the nights we spent apart. We avoided each other.”

 

The green-eyed woman’s eyes drifted to stare at her son, who was currently having probes injected into his muscles.

 

“He’s so different now,” Lena said wistfully.

 

Kara hummed her assent and the CEO turned to her ex-wife in surprise.

 

“What happened in that room Kara?”

 

The blonde’s eyes darkened.

 

“He’s not an angel Lena. He’s done things. But… I don’t think he blew that hospital up. I think he was framed. But I can’t forgive him either. He still joined Cadmus. He made that decision.’

 

“You know why he did Kara. He was recruited. Brainwashed!”

 

The hero looked at her with sad eyes.

 

“He still wouldn’t have joined, if a part of him didn’t want to do it.”

 

“No,” Lena said shaking her head furiously. “He was coerced. He told me, he begged me to help him at the time-“

 

“He lied Lena.”

 

“NO!” The other woman said shouting and rising from her chair.

 

“He told me himself, Lena. He told me yesterday.” Kara said standing on her feet as well.

 

The CEO looked ready to breakdown in tears and flashed her eyes again to her son, who was looking at her with profound regret in his eyes.

 

She hesitated before placing her hand against the glass, mimicking the gesture she’d made the first night she’d seen him again.

 

“What other things has he done?” She said quietly to Kara.

 

“Nothing as bad as what he is accused of.”

 

Lena turned back to face her ex and lifted an eyebrow.

 

“Why won’t you tell me?”

 

The blonde stared, her intense eyes locking onto the CEO’s own. It was enough to make Lena’s breath catch slightly in her throat. The superhero lifted her hand and traced her ex wife’s cheek briefly.

 

“Because Maggie was right,” she whispered.

 

“I still love you. And I need you to know that I forgave you the moment you told me what you did. And you deserve to have… our son back in your life. I won’t take him from you again. So he needs to be the one to tell you.”

 

Her hand began to fall to her side and Lena went to catch it but missed.

 

“Kara, I-“

 

But the other woman had already fled the coridoor.

 

Liam watched his mother slump back into her chair after the blonde hero disappeared. Unbeknownst to them, Liam’s hearing had also been drastically improved.

 

His brow creased.

 

What had his mom done, that Kara had forgiven her for?

 

What the hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do we think? It wasn't my favourite chapter, but it's going to launch a few things. Comment if you want, I love to read them :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little late with this one, but in my defence my week has been crazy. Anyway, I hope you guys like it and feel free to leave a comment, I love to read them :)

“You’re actually going to talk this time, right?

 

Liam gave Nina a sharp look and raised his eyebrow.

 

“What’s with the tone there grumpy?” He questioned.

 

The young woman shot him a look of pure disdain.

 

“This coming from the captain of assholes,” she snarked.

 

“Look,” the dark-haired man said, stopping Nina at the doorway to the gym basement.

 

“I know this whole thing has been complete shit. Trust me, I’m as unhappy as everyone else. But this is the situation we are stuck in.”

 

“Oh, well then it’s all ok then,” she said in a falsely cheerful voice. “Don’t worry that nobody knows what the hell is going on apart from you!”

 

The dark haired man nearly growled at the woman but reined himself in from yelling. People on the sidewalk were already starting to stare at the pair of them.

 

“In case you didn’t clue in, I don’t know what’s going on either!”

 

“Well, you know more than the rest of us! You and Kara in that _fucking_ room and neither of you has said a peep about what went on in there? No wonder the rest of us are going crazy!”

 

“I’m not the one who told you to run around starting arguments with everyone!”

 

“Look here, you giant piece of-“

 

“What are you two doing? If you’re coming to this meeting, you will not be yelling!”

 

The angry pair turned to see a pissed off David glaring at them. Nina and Liam had the grace to look ashamed at their behaviour and the middle-aged man’s gaze softened.

 

“Look, I know it can be tough. Just come in and sit-down. I made the coffee this time, so it’s drinkable I promise.”

 

Liam and Nina plodded after the grey-haired man and down the steps to the basement of the YMCA building. Lena had insisted that her son attend the meeting when he was told he could go home after the unfruitful day at the DEO. The whole situation had everybody on edge as no further leads had been found regarding the man in custody. Everyone was inclined to believe, at this point, that the man was CADMUS. But Winn’s search had provided no further information and the results from Liam’s more invasive tests weren’t through yet. 

 

So far, while there were similarities between the tech in the dark-haired man and the unnamed agent, the middle-aged man’s upgrades were of a far higher quality. Liam’s, on the other hand, seemed to have botched repairs and ‘improvements’ added to them that had baffled Alex.

 

_“Why on earth are the cybernetics in your eyes partially destroyed?”_

 

_“Well, my mate had an idea about x-ray vision….”_

 

_“X-ray vision?”_

 

_“Why do you sound so shocked? It’s not like the ‘super’s’ don’t have the exact same ability.”_

 

_“Well, clearly it didn’t work! If you didn’t have your healing abilities you’d be blind!”_

 

_“He tried ok? I think a scarred retina or two might be worth getting X-ray vision.”_

 

From what Liam had repeated to his Aunt, he wasn’t entirely sure what exactly all his implants were and what they did. Even his backwater medical experiments were limited due to the fact that he wasn’t exactly sure what caused his regeneration abilities. 

 

_“How do you not know?”_

 

_“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to ask in between the torture and attempted brainwashing!”_

 

In all honesty, the green-eyed man was more interested in finding out what the exact situation was between his mother and Kara.He was surprised how much it irritated him not to know what had exactly happened between them. 

 

So while he pondered how exactly he was going to find out what was going on, without appearing like he’d overheard the conversation, his mother had told him she wanted him to go to a meeting.

 

“ _Why do I have to go today!?”_

 

_“You’ve had a very intense day. We all have. The last thing you need right now is to think about… coping mechanisms.”_

 

_“And how exactly am I supposed to find drugs Mom! I’m monitored every minute!”_

 

_“JUST GO!!!”_

 

Rather than argue with his irritated mother, he nodded and agreed to attend. Unfortunately, Nina seemed to be as pissed off as everyone else in the DEO building. 

 

When they entered the basement, the bearded man looked and noticed that all of the inhabitants stared at them briefly before un subtlety averting their gazes to random objects around the room.

 

“Well, we might as well get started then!” David said, in a far more cheerful tone then he had used before.

 

The crowd of people, as well as Nina and Liam, sat down in the provided chairs and David gave the same speech as last time before inviting members to speak. The younger man was quickly becoming bored but chastised himself mentally for his lack of attention. He had promised to be less of an asshole, and it might be good to zone in on the random person’s conversation piece then let his thoughts linger on his mother and Superwoman’s relationship. 

 

“Alex? Would you like to share?”

 

Liam’s attention turned to David, who was looking at the green-eyed man expectantly. The bearded man was ready to decline before his sharp hearing picked up on Nina’s barely muted scoff which raised his hackles. 

If there was one thing the near twenty-eight-year-old hated, it was people telling him he couldn’t or shouldn't do something. 

 

“Yes, actually,” he began standing up, hoping his babysitter’s jaw would hit the floor. Of course, once he was on his feet, he realised he would actually have to speak.

 

“Errrr…I don’t entirely know where to start.”

 

David and the other members of the group didn’t respond, but simply smiled in encouragement and Liam awkwardly shuffled his feet while scraping his mind for a topic.

 

“Well… I’ve had a bit of a trying day. Which is why my mother… insisted that I attend a meeting today.”

 

The tall man paused again but remembered that no one was actually going to respond.

 

“Yeah… so like I said, difficult day. Umm… I kind of ‘turned up’ after ten years away, and everything is fucked. I knew it would be though…. it’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to come back in the first place. My whole… family is completely in knots about it. And other things are happening and… yeah. My parents got divorced while I wasn’t here, and I thought it was Kara’s fault, but now I’m not so sure and… So, I guess Mom was worried that the whole thing would set me off, but honestly I think its because she wanted to be left alone, and this was a way to get me out of the house.”

 

Liam hadn’t expected to run his mouth as much as he had, or as honestly, but there was something about a group of people staring at him expectantly that made Liam ramble.

 

He sat down before he could say any more. He assumed that what he had said had proved to the annoying tag along that he was actually capable of ‘sharing’. He gave her a side look and noticed that she was smiling smugly if a little mollified. Liam felt like kicking himself. He was obviously exhausted and had lost brain cells when he landed on Earth. The annoying cow had played him beautifully.

 

Nina had, of course, baited him. But she was still surprised to hear him speak as honestly as he had. 

 

And as far as she was aware, nobody had told Liam about the circumstances of his parents divorce. He seemed to disdain his blonde haired mother so much, it was shocking to hear that he was even considering the possibility that the blonde hero wasn’t completely at fault for the breakdown of the marriage between Lena and Kara. As far as Nina knew, Kara was at fault for everything in Liam’s eyes.

 

The rest of the meeting passed relatively quickly, and when it finished and Liam was preparing to leave when a good looking man blocked his path.

 

“It’s good to see you back. From the speed you left at last time, I would’ve bet against you returning.”

 

“Oh…err, ” Liam stuttered shifting awkwardly on his feet and the other man smiled at him.

 

“Not very eloquent huh? Don’t worry, you’re handsome enough to get away with it.”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow at the man’s obvious flirting and appraised him closely. He hadn’t really been focusing on charming anyone since he’d been back, but the guy was certainly good looking and it might be nice to have a distraction.

 

He smirked easily back at the other man and raked his eyes up and down his body obviously.

 

“You’re not too bad yourself… Can I get a name?”

 

The other man’s smile grew.

 

“Caleb,” he said, reaching his hand out for a shake.

 

Liam returned it and let his fingers trail over the other man’s palm.

 

“A pleasure.”

 

Caleb opened his mouth to speak again, but Nina cut him off with a short tone.

 

“Well _Alex,_ we better be going.”

 

Caleb turned to Nina for the first time, and his eyes flickered in amusement.

 

“And you are?”

 

“Nina Matthews. His fiancé.”

 

The man blinked in shock and Liam hid an amused smile before he wrapped his arm around the short woman’s shoulders.

 

“Planning on an open marriage though,” he replied, his amusement evident. Nina scowled at him as Caleb said a quick goodbye. When the other man left to drift to another part of the room, Nina pushed herself away from Liam’s embrace.

 

“What was that about?” She hissed.

 

Liam turned to her with a shit eating grin on his face and he repeated mockingly.

 

“What _was_ that all about?”

 

Nina leaned in close.

 

“Keep it in your pants, you idiot. These meetings are to help you maintain your sobriety, it’s not to find hookups.”

 

“I don’t know,” Liam said looking at the gathered group. “I could find my true love in this room!”

 

The dark haired woman snorted with derision.

 

“And what? Bring them back to your Mom’s apartment? Or better yet, go back to their’s and have me wait outside the door?”

 

The green-eyed man shrugged his shoulder’s.

 

“It wouldn’t be the most awkward sex I’ve had. One time when I was looking for a Saturnian bail jumper, we decided there was a better way for her to pay back her debt to society-“

 

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Nina said with a disgusted expression. “You’re a pig.”

 

“Better a pig than an asshole right?”

 

She looked at him cooly.

 

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive you know.”

 

She turned on her heel and left the room while Liam trailed after her happily.

 

This meeting was certainly far more interesting then he had anticipated. 

 

* * *

 

Liam woke up the next day with a groan. He didn’t care if he had near instantaneous healing, his back always hurt for hours after sleeping on the couch.

 

“Happy Birthday darling,” a cheerful voice said.

 

He opened his eyes to see a distinctly happier than yesterday Lena smiling at him over the kitchen counter. He sniffed the air and picked up the scent of maple syrup, he rushed to his feet and nearly stumbled over to get to the island counter.

 

“Birthday pancakes!” He exclaimed gleefully as he took in the site of a foot high stack of pancakes on a plate.

 

“With chocolate chips! I haven’t had these since I left.” 

 

Lena smiled at her son’s childlike joy at the breakfast food. Every birthday in their house had been celebrated with stacks of Kara’s famous pancakes. The breakfast food was associated with nothing but happy memories.

 

_Lena woke up with a stream of sunlight warming her naked back. She nuzzled further into the warm body next to her and fingers began to preen her dark locks. She moaned in appreciation at the feeling and the body chuckled._

 

_The green-eyed woman opened her eyes and looked up at a lazily smiling Kara. The blonde woman paused in her ministrations when Lena crawled on top of her body, her hair falling over both of them like a curtain. She leaned in close and captured the journalist’s lips with her own for a long, drawn-out kiss._

 

_“Mmmm,” Kara moaned when they broke for breath. The blonde reached up and ran her thumb over Lena’s lips and stared into her eyes with softness._

 

_“Morning beautiful,” she whispered._

 

_“Morning,” Lena replied with a smile but began to laugh when she felt Kara’s stomach rumble._

 

_“Somebody’s hungry.”_

 

_The blonde’s eyes darkened and she flipped them over and captured Lena's lips in an even deeper kiss. The dark-haired woman smiled into the blue-eyed woman’s mouth._

 

_“Maybe for more than just breakfast then.”_

 

_“You have no idea…” The other woman replied before pulling away and getting ready to stand. “But right now, how about I make you a batch of my famous pancakes. I only make them for special occasions!”_

 

_“Oh,” the brunette commented with a raised eyebrow as her gaze raked over the blonde’s form. “And what’s the occasion today?”_

 

_Kara smirked and leaned in for a final kiss._

 

_“The first time you stayed the night, of course.”_

 

Lena almost blushed as her thoughts drifted to other things Kara and she had done that morning and quickly turned to flip a few more pancakes, hiding her face from her son.

 

Liam eagerly pulled the plate towards him and vacuumed up his pancakes, syrup dripping down his chin.

 

“Yoush nob, I ussh to dweam ob des pancaps.”

 

The CEO frowned down at her son and his disgusting eating habits.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” she replied dryly.

 

Liam swallowed his inhuman mouthful before responding.

 

“I said, I used to dream about these pancakes.”

 

Lena smiled at her son. He never looked more like Kara then when he was shovelling food into his face. 

 

The door to Nina’s room cracked open and the young woman walked out blearily. Lena’s mouth tightened slightly and she turned back to the stove while the other woman stood awkwardly halfway to the kitchen. Liam turned from his plate and looked briefly at the two women before nudging the chair next to him.

 

“Come and have a seat, Nina. You’ve got to try these fast before I eat them all. Nobody makes pancakes like Mom.”

 

The pyjama clad woman sat down silently and with a slight reluctance before she began to eat. Her face relaxed and she resisted the urge to moan. Liam grinned at her expression.

 

“Awesome huh? Mom’s a God in the kitchen.”

 

“You don’t know Liam, maybe I’ve become a terrible cook. Besides, these are your Mama’s recipe remember?”

 

Liam snorted.

 

“Yeah, and they’re the only thing she can cook. Remember that time she wanted to make us all dinner for your anniversary? And then she ended up setting off the sprinklers. We had to order in from Mr Yao’s just so we could eat.”

 

Liam looked up to find his mother smiling brightly at him and Nina staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

 

“What?”

 

Nina turned her eyes back to her pancakes and his mother back to the stove. The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence and Liam helped Nina wash the plates while Lena disappeared into her room. 

 

“Still a bit of tension there huh?” Liam said softly as Nina handed him a plate to dry.

 

She grunted in response and he took the hint to stay quiet. He had just finished stacking the clean plates when his mother returned with a small wrapped box. 

 

“What’s this?” He asked as she held it out for him to take.

 

“It’s your birthday gift. I wanted to give it to you a long time ago, but better late than never.”

 

Liam unwrapped the box carefully and revealed a beautiful emerald ring set in a black gold band. The main square-cut jewel sat between two smaller diamonds and a string of Gaelic words was engraved on the band.

 

“It’s a Luthor family heirloom,” Lena began nervously. “It’s passed down to the first son of each generation. I was going to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday. It used to be Lex’s, but I inherited it after he was imprisoned. I added the diamonds though and the engraving. The words are Gaelic. Níos láidre le chéile, which means-“

 

“Stronger Together,” he said quietly.

 

Lena stared at her son who was looking down at the ring and rolling it between his fingers.

 

“I understand if you don’t want it, I can get you-“

 

“Mom,” he said cutting her off. He put the ring on and then pulled his mother into a hug.

 

“I love it. Thank you.”

 

Tears began to pool in the corner of the CEO’s eyes and when Liam pulled away from the hug she swore that he wiped his own eyes quickly. She picked up his hand and looked down at the black band.

 

“It suits you and it fits. The original was a lot more… Luthor. I thought I’d add the words and put them in Gaelic. So every bit is a part of you. The ring for the Luthor’s, the Gaelic for me. The words are-”

 

“For Kara,” he finished simply.

 

She stared up and into his eyes that were exactly like her own.

 

“But all together it’s you, Liam. And while this is where you come from, it doesn’t define you.”

 

Liam remained silent and looked back down at the ring.

 

“It’s not a bad thing to have a reminder of who I am. And who my family is,” he said with a small smile. He looked back into his mother’s eyes.

 

“Thank you.”

 

The emotional air was broken when Nina coughed. The mother and son blinked and pulled apart and Lena smoothed out her skirt. 

 

“Well, we better get going. I left your suit on my bed again.”

 

Liam stared at her shocked.

 

“You’re kidding, right? I have to go back and work in the mailroom? I was nearly killed!”

 

Lena rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh please. The DEO has eyes all over the building now and you’ve proved you can handle yourself ok. If someone tries to get in again they’ll be caught and arrested immediately. L-Corp is now the safest building in National City. Plus, if I didn’t go to work every time someone tried to assassinate me, I might as well resign.”

 

“But it’s my birthday!”

 

Lena shook her head in amusement at her son’s whining and shooed him in the direction of the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

Liam was ready to bang his head against the wall by the end of the workday. Bob, completely oblivious to the violence that had occurred a few days before right outside the mailroom door, spent half an hour lecturing the bearded man about his responsibilities as a mailman. Then he muttered, very loudly, under his breath about entitled rich brats who had jobs handed to them and could swan off whenever they liked. 

 

Liam was thoroughly irritated before lunch even arrived. He was an ex Cadmus agent, former bounty hunter and could kill the manager with any object in the room. And instead of utilising his vast array of skills, he was stuck listening to a grouchy old man in between delivering mail to overly chatty workers. His mother didn’t ask him to eat lunch with her today and Bob kept him so busy he barely had time to inhale a street hotdog before he was due back for his next round of mail.

 

Nina spent the whole time on edge, checking in constantly with the other DEO agents scattered inside and outside the building. So instead of talking, he spent the majority of the day daydreaming about past birthdays he spent getting blackout drunk. He could kill for a drink right about now, a glass of an alien type bourbon would certainly make the day go by smoother. Unfortunately, his drinking days were behind him as long as he was under his mother’s watchful gaze. 

So when finally he was allowed to leave, he headed up to his mother's office ready to leave. But was forced to wait for another two hours while his mother was on a conference call. His mother’s assistant, who he learned was called Hayley, had offered to get him coffee four times and he was on the verge of snapping when his mother, finally, opened her office door and gave him a warm smile.

 

“I’m sorry for taking so long darling. We have time to go home quickly and get changed before dinner.”

 

“Dinner?”

 

“Yes. At Antonio’s.”

 

“We’re eating dinner at Antonio’s?” Nina piped up from behind Liam’s back.

 

Lena warm expression changed to a blank one.

 

“We are, you aren’t.”

 

Nina’s face flickered with hurt then hardened.

 

“It’s my job to-“

 

“Feel free to wait outside the restaurant then, but I really don’t see the point. After all, we’re also eating dinner with Kia and she is far more able to handle a possible escape attempt then you are.”

 

The younger woman didn’t reply and averted her eyes.

 

Liam felt a pang of sympathy for the woman but focused his attention on what his mother had just said.

 

“Well, it really doesn’t matter because I refuse to eat dinner with her.”

 

* * *

 

“I really don’t think this is a good idea. You know, I’m perfectly happy to stay at home with Nina. Ten years is a long time and they didn’t have human TV in outer space. There is plenty to catch up on.”

 

“I’m not having you at home for your birthday dinner. I haven’t had this day with you in a decade.”

 

“I’m pretty sure Kia would appreciate it if I wasn’t there, and I sure as hell don’t feel like sitting across from her and making small talk.”

 

“Well this day isn’t really about you now is it?”

 

“My birthday isn’t about me?”

 

“I was the one who had to endure 14 hours of labour when you were born. This is definitely _my day_ , so you better shut it. This is the first time Kia has wanted to have dinner with me in years, and she was decent enough to let you come. Please _please_ , behave for me.”

 

“Ok… I’ll try to keep my mouth shut.’

 

“Good,” his mother huffed in response. Before she opened the door to the restaurant her eyes flickered over Liam’s badly done tie, his mop of hair and his unkempt beard.

 

“You know,” she began dryly. “One could argue that a birthday is a time for clean starts.”

 

Liam eyed her suspiciously.

 

“One could. But I think I’m already making progress on that front. I’m here at this dinner, aren’t I? With only slight difficulty.”

 

“I don’t refute that darling, but would it kill you to shave or get a haircut? Maybe _before_ we left for the best restaurant in National City.”

 

“Oh please,” Liam said scoffing dismissively while patting his hair possessively. “We both know this place is completely overrated. Give me a good hot dog on the pier any day. Their garlic butter has never had enough parsley and the duck confit’s skin is hit and miss at best.”

 

His mother raised her eyebrows at her son’s intact culinary knowledge and he shrugged his shoulders self consciously.

 

“What? Their desserts were ok, and there weren’t many places in space where I could get a creme brûlée. It was a fantasy of mine.”

 

“Well then,” Lena said smiling smugly before she opened the door.

 

“It’s a good thing you came after all. I’ll let you order two.”

 

Her son grumbled behind her as the host lead them over to a table already occupied by her daughter who looked extremely uncomfortable at being here. Kia rose to her feet nonetheless and greeted her mother with a short hug while completely ignoring Liam’s presence.

 

“Hi, Mom.”

 

“Hello darling,” Lena said with muted joy in her voice. Even though this would be an extremely awkward affair, she never would have dreamed that the possibility of dinner with her two children would occur again. 

 

While Kia browsed the menu silently, evidently her pleasantries were exhausted, Lena shot Liam a glance. Her son was mimicking his older sister’s actions. After both of them had chosen their dishes, the blue-eyed hero turned to stare directly at Liam.

 

“Well, there is no point pretending we like each other.”

 

The tall man’s mouth tightened a fraction before he responded.

 

“Agreed. But I promise I will be on my best behaviour.”

 

“Well,” Kia said snakily. “That doesn’t inspire much confidence.”

 

The green-eyed man refused to be baited and held his tongue. Another slightly awkward silence followed while the blue-eyed hero continued to stare daggers at her younger brother and Lena was about to break the silence when Liam beat her to it.

 

“Thank you. For having me for dinner. I know it couldn’t have been easy, but I know Mom appreciates it.”

 

Kia grunted in response and her eyes flickered to Lena.

 

“Well… ok then.”

 

The blue-eyed hero turned to her mother and proceeded to ask her about the goings on at L-Corp, a relatively safe topic. The CEO launched into the discussion enthusiastically, carrying the brunt of the conversation while Kia only asked the occasional question or opinion. Liam sat silently the whole time, his eyes drifting over the room while he zoned in on various conversations between the other tables occupants. He was pretty sure the majority of the people here were having business dinners and the rest were on dates. He was convinced the thirty-something-year-old man at the table next to them was going to propose to his boyfriend, giving the hand holding and the increased heart rate while his other hand hovered over his pocket.

 

“So… Liam’s working at L-Corp now? In the mailroom, I heard?”

 

The dark-haired man turned back to his own table and focused on his sister and her arched eyebrow.

 

“Yep. It’s pretty boring and Bob’s a grumpy git. I’m wasn't sure I would still be employed after nearly decapitating someone in the hallway.”

 

Lena looked at her son with exasperation.

 

“Can you please not joke about that? I don’t think near death experiences which then become central to an investigation are a laughing matter,” she hissed out lowly, clenching the tablecloth.

 

Liam shook his head at his mother.

 

“Well given the number of brushes with death I’ve had in my life, I either spend my time crying or laughing about it,” he said grinning.

 

“ _It’s not funny Liam_!”

 

The CEO’s outburst drew the attention of the tables near them. The occupants eyed them curiously, but the CEO and her children stayed quiet until their attention was averted back to their own plates.

 

Lena’s eyes became watery and she reached for both of her children’s hands.

 

“Every time,” she began shakily facing Kia. “Every time you and your Mama fly out, I worry you won’t come back. I don’t care that you are nearly indestructible. I’ve watched you solar flare, be kidnapped, slammed into the ground, nearly be blown up, stabbed by kryptonite and nearly be killed.”

 

“And _you_ ,” she continued turning to Liam.

 

“Do I even need to say what you’ve put me through? And then, every time you tell me _anything,_ or more likely I'm informed by others, about your time away it involves bounty hunting across space or Cadmus experimenting on you!”

 

She squeezed both their hands tightly and closed her eyes. 

 

“It kills me.”

 

Kia and Liam turned and stared at each other both at a loss for how to proceed. The blue-eyed woman’s eyes were still swimming with suspicion and anger and Liam began to whisper so softly and fast that no normal human could possibly understand.

 

_“Look. I don’t really know what to do here.”_

 

Kia’s eyes narrowed before she responded in the same fashion.

 

_“That makes a change. Admitting you don’t know something.”_

 

_“Oh, how witty. I’m trying to stop Mom from crying here!”_

 

_“You’re the reason she's upset in the first place! Like it or not, you caused a chain reaction of bullshit when you left.”_

 

Liam winced briefly, but his fingers twitched to flip his sister off.

 

_“Look. I can’t change the past. And I know we don’t care much for each other, but do you at least agree that we want to be here for her? Surely that's the reason you agreed to this dinner. I really don’t care whether the stick up your arse ever gets dislodged, but I know that it hurts Mom that you two don’t get along. And I’m guessing, it might be hurting you too.”_

 

Kia glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye and then flickered back to Liam’s.

 

_“How did you learn to do this?”_

 

_“Do what?”_

 

_“Speak this fast?”_

 

_“How did I get any of my abilities? Cadmus.”_

 

The blue-eyed hero appraised him briefly and with dislike. But her thoughts on Liam’s involvement with the organisation aside, she highly doubted they were gentle operations. 

 

_“For God’s sake. Look I’m trying to be less of an asshole. Whether you believe that or not, the fact remains that just for tonight, can we give her what she needs?”_

 

_“Oh? And what would that be.”_

 

_“The illusion that her children can be amicable with each other.”_

 

The green-eyed man squeezed his mother’s hand back and she opened her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry Mom. I won’t joke about it anymore. It’s not funny.”

 

Kia sighed before speaking too.

 

“I’m sorry too, Mom.”

 

Lena stared at her daughter with tears in her eyes. 

 

“You shouldn’t be sorry Kia. I… I haven’t been a good mother to you. I always swore I wouldn’t be like mine, but I fear I have turned into Lillian just the same.”

 

Liam felt a shudder go through him at the mention of his grandmother. His encounters with her had been less than pleasant, to say the least.

 

“I think,” Kia began almost wincing as she gestured to her mother, herself and Liam.

 

“We all have a lot to work on. I don’t think living in the past, will help solve the problems of the present.”

 

Liam felt like rolling his eyes, but he nodded along with his sister’s words. Lena’s eyes softened and the worry eased from her face.

 

“You know, you two,” she said letting go of their hands. “Are the most precious things in the world to me. Nothing else matters as much as both of you.”

 

The siblings exchanged glances once again, but thankfully their looks were broken by the arrival of their entrees. They ate in silence before Lena enquired about the quality of their meals.

 

“I think it needs more parsley,” Kia commented vaguely as she ate her snails. 

 

Liam tried to hide his snort behind his hand and Lena smirked down at the tablecloth while Kia shot both of them an inquiring look.

 

“They’ve never learned to change that, have they?” Lena questioned with amusement.

 

“No,” Kia said shaking her head reluctantly. “But they make the best-“

 

“Creme brûlée,” Liam finished.

 

His sister shot him a sharp look.

 

_“This doesn’t change anything. I’ll be polite, but that’s it.”_

 

_“Fine with me.”_

 

* * *

 

The rest of the dinner continued without any more difficulty. Lena and Kia carried most of the conversation, with Liam making only an occasional comment here and there. Nothing heavy was touched on again, mostly covering Kia’s day job at her architectural firm. The tall man filed that information away in his head. It was surprising to him. It was definitely a different career than the one she dreamed of when they were children. The blue-eyed woman’s path was paved to a job at L-Corp, and as a child, she never seemed to stop talking about how one day she would be a superhero and the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company. 

 

Liam’s future was more focused on living to the next year when he was a child, but that tended to happen when you spent more time in the hospital than out of it. His dreams usually consisted of attending a full year of school, rather than an endless parade of catch up tutoring.

 

After the three creme brûlées, they ordered were finished and cleared Lena paid the bill while Liam and Kia waited outside in a tense silence, but they both smiled at their mother when she exited the door. 

 

“That was nice, wasn’t it,” she said happily. Lena looked in between her children and hesitantly continued.

 

“It might be nice to do it again next week?” She said hopefully.

 

Kia and Liam groaned internally, but neither of them wanted to upset their mother and they nodded their agreement with forced smiles. 

 

The CEO practically beamed at the acceptance of her idea. She wasn’t stupid enough to assume that they were agreeing with enthusiasm, but at least they were still doing it voluntarily which was a positive sign. The second Lena’s driver arrived in front of the restaurant Liam jumped in without a second glance at his sister, leaving the CEO on the curb next to her daughter.

 

“Thank you for inviting me, darling. It wasn’t too uncomfortable with your brother I hope?”

 

The blue-eyed woman eyed the tinted window of the town car that Liam sat in.

 

“No,” she said reluctantly. “He didn’t say much, so I guess there was that.”

 

Lena was at a loss for words and her eyes drifted towards the window as well.

 

“I don’t want to make this about the issues between the two of you. But I’m really glad that you are doing this for me.”

 

Kia wanted to protest, but her mother’s knowing look stopped her.

 

“I don’t like him, Mom. I don’t trust him and I don’t forgive him. But… He loves you. And I love you. If I have to suck up being in his presence once a week for you, I will. Besides, ” she continued with a half smile and a shrug.

 

“I’d never turn down a free dinner.”

 

Lena laughed at her daughter before reaching up and squeezing her shoulder.

 

“I’ll have to start fearing for my bank account again now that you and your brother will be eating me out of house and home. I remember how my grocery budget increased by a thousand when I first started dating your Mama”

 

The CEO shook her head to chase out the reminiscing thoughts and was suddenly pulled into a strong hug. The green-eyed woman blinked back her shock but quickly wrapped her arms around her daughter. 

 

Kia pulled away after a few seconds and murmured a quick goodbye before running into a nearby alley and taking off into the sky. Lena was a little stunned by the suddenness of her daughter’s departure when she opened the door to the back seat of the car and slid in next to Liam.

 

“Somebody’s afraid of their feelings,” he said sarcastically, mocking his sister’s departure. 

 

His mother shot him a look and he held up his hands.

 

“Sorry,” he muttered before moodily staring out the window as the car began to drive off.

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, while Liam they mulled over the dinner they had shared. His thoughts were interrupted by his mother speaking.

 

“Thank you, Liam,” she said sincerely with a slight shake in her voice. “It meant a lot to me."

 

The young man turned to face her and smiled.

 

“Your welcome Mom. After all, it is your day,” he said with a smirk.

 

Lena smirked in return and patted his cheek gently.

 

“Happy Birthday Darling. I’m sorry we didn’t do more for it.”

 

The young man paused before he spoke again.

 

“Well, maybe we could go to the park tomorrow Mom. To our old spot near the zoo?”

 

She smiled at her son’s earnest expression, and joy filled her face.

 

“Of course darling. We can visit the penguins after too.”

 

* * *

“Hey, there Stick.”

 

Liam turned at the sound of that old nickname and faced the smiling and short Maggie. The green-eyed man couldn’t help the returning smile that graced his face. The detective always was his favourite aunt.

 

“Hi, Auntie.”

 

Maggie arched an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitched up further as she walked towards him.

 

“Since when did you call me Auntie? You know that makes me feel old!”

 

Liam smirked down at the woman.

 

“You know, it’s funny to see you all the way down there.”

 

The detective punched him lightly in the shoulder before giving him a half hug. The dark-haired man was slightly surprised by the gesture, considering everyone else’s reactions to first seeing him (apart from his mother). But then again, Maggie had always played by her own rules.

 

“It’s good to see you Stick, even if the circumstances are a bit dicey.”

 

The man smiled down at the short woman.

 

“You were one of the people I missed the most Dimples.”

 

Maggie felt slightly choked up at hearing the name that Liam had called her by ever since he was a toddler but quickly quelled the feeling and hip-checked the taller man.

 

“I missed you too Stick.”

 

“You know I hate that name.”

 

The detective smirked up at him.

 

“You don’t really have a leg to stand on here, do you? Calling Nina Tweety and all. And you know it used to be because you were so skinny. I don’t know what you were eating in space, but it obviously agreed with you.”

 

The dark-haired man smiled at her good-naturedly, but his eyes darkened with bad memories. Physical changes were the least drastic thing to occur to you after you were experimented on by Cadmus. 

 

“Where did you go there, Stick?”

 

Liam shook the thoughts out of his head and flapped away his aunt’s question.

 

“Memory lane, never mind. Surely now though,” Liam said gesturing up and down his body. “You have a more apt nickname. Something more manly?”

 

Maggie smiled at him evilly and Liam felt a sense of doom wash over him.

 

“You may have gotten bigger, but you’re just as thick I’m guessing. I think you’ve earned the gradation from Stick to Tree.”

 

“Tree?” Liam exclaimed.

 

“Yep,” the dark haired woman said with humour eyeing him up and down.

 

“It’s far more…. manly,” she finished cheekily.

 

Liam grumbled under his breath and Maggie shot him a fond smile.

 

“By the way, happy belated birthday.”

 

The dark-haired man smiled happily at his short aunt.

 

“Thank you. Did you get me a present?”

 

She let out a short laugh.

 

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I? Hey, you remember that year I snuck you out of the hospital to take you shooting? I thought your moms were going to throttle me. The look on Kara’s face when she found out that you’d hit every target dead centre though,” she continued shaking her head. “So proud.” 

 

_“You can’t take him out in the middle of nowhere Maggie! His immune system is shot at the moment, you could kill him!”_

 

_“Well, at least he’ll die happy.”_

 

_Kara’s face grew red and she spoke low and dangerously._

 

_“How dare you do this without mine and Lena’s permission. I would never do this to you.”_

 

_Maggie shook her head and looked back through the window at the small eight-year-old boy sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. He looked up and caught her eye and gave her a massive grin._

 

_“It’s his birthday Kara. And when was the last time he smiled like this.”_

 

_The blonde woman turned her gaze to her son, whose smile grew larger while he waved._

 

_“He hit every target dead centre, Kara. I took photos.”_

 

_The journalist couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face when she turned back to the detective. Before she could comment, her smile froze as she saw her wife storming towards them._

 

_“Send me the photos,” she whispered quickly before running away and abandoning Maggie to her fate._

 

_“MAGGIE!”_

 

Liam smiled at the memory of that birthday. It was definitely one of the brighter spots of his hospital stay.

 

“You know she still has the photos I sent her. She had them enlarged at the time and one is still hanging in her apartment.”

 

The dark haired man hummed, but didn’t reply and Maggie sighed internally.

 

“Anyway… I guess you’re here to get the results of all those tests Alex ran on you.”

 

Liam winced and rubbed his forearms.

 

“Well, she was quite.. liberal with the needles.”

 

“Yes, she did seem to be in a happier mood afterwards.”

 

“At least one of us was,” Liam muttered. 

 

Maggie clapped him on the shoulder.

 

“Come on then, no point hiding in this random corridor. Lets brace ourselves for the debriefing of the century. I heard that _everyone’s_ going to be there.”

 

Liam groaned.

 

“It’s going to take forever.”

 

“Well, everyone _really_ wants to know what happened in that room. About time you and Kara feed us that information, there are bets to settle you know.”

 

“You betted on me?”

 

Maggie looked at him incredulously.

 

“Of course not! The bets are about when you and Kara are going to realise you need to hug and make up. Pam Jr in HR bet on a month, I reckon two weeks.”

 

Liam scowled at his aunt and was about to reply but they had reached the conference room where the debriefing would be held and Maggie cut off any reply he would have made by opening the door.

 

“Let’s dive into the fray, shall we?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. Let me know what you think!

“Nice to see you two  _finally_  turn up,” Alex said sarcastically when Maggie and Liam entered the room. The dimpled woman smiled at her wife and shot her a wink.

 

“It’s all about that dramatic entrance babe.”

 

“Yes, well,” J’onn interrupted with his grave voice. “Maybe we could put the dramatics on hold and have this long overdue debriefing before anything  _else_  delays us.”

 

Liam and his aunt sat down in the empty chairs next to Lena and the dark-haired man looked around the table. Kia and Kara were sitting opposite to them along with Nina, Carter, Jamie, J’onn and Winn. Alex was standing at the head of the table and waited until the pair had settled in their seats before she began talking.

 

“Right, now that we’re  _all_  here,” she continued levelling another look at her wife. “We can begin.”

 

The redheaded agent pressed a button and the room darkened while a 3D projection of Liam appeared in the middle of the table.

 

“This is what we’ve managed to figure out from our tests on you Liam,” she said nodding to the dark-haired before the projection changed to an x-ray.

 

“Your bones have been reinforced with some type of unknown coating substance.”

 

“Like Wolverine?” Carter piped up excitedly.

 

Alex shot him an annoyed look, while the other occupants hid their smiles.

 

“No Carter, not like Wolverine,” she replied while Carter’s face fell.

 

“If we zoom in on it,” she said fiddling with her pad. “We can see that it seems to form some kind of mesh over the bones. And even disregarding his healing factor, it would be hard-pressed to break these bones. It seems to help absorb the shock of any impact and scatter it back out through the muscle. The real question would be how they managed to coat his bones with the substance. Most likely, a series of injections along the skeletal structure.”

 

“Now,” she continued pressing another button to show Liam’s muscular structure.

 

“Again disregarding the healing factor, the muscles themselves are regenerative. From the samples we managed to extract, any damage inflicted seems to repair itself. But once fully separated from the body while it ‘heals’ it doesn’t regrow. This matched up with what Liam told us when his arm was cut off. The wound on the separated arm would have closed, but it didn’t transform into another person. This would indicate, we think, that the healing factor and the cellular regeneration are different things. Most likely once the limb was separated from the main body structure and brain, the ability stopped working.”

 

“Well, how can we know for sure?” J’onn questioned.

 

Alex looked from the DEO director to Liam.

 

“Well… he did volunteer to have an arm removed to test on-“

 

“Absolutely not!” Lena interjected.

 

“Mom,” her dark-haired son began placatingly. “It’s only to help figure out-“

 

“Alex, you can’t just run around cutting off arms. What will it be next, his legs? His head?”

 

The group turned to look at the indignant Kara.

 

“Well, how are we supposed to understand exactly how it works-“

 

The blonde hero shook her head at her sister and spoke over the redhead.

 

Exactly. We  **don’t**  know how it works. So what do you want to happen, leave him amputated accidentally?”

 

Liam stared at the stern superhero, slightly mollified expression at her angry tone, while J’onn and Lena nodded in agreement.

 

“I concur with Superwoman,” the Martian said tapping the table. “I won’t risk something that could kill him. We wait until we know more.”

 

Alex nodded in assent and moved on with her presentation.

 

“Well, from what we  _do_  know, the muscular structure has been injected with some sort of chemical compound that causes the regeneration-“

 

“Like Captain America?” Carter interjected triumphantly.

 

“No Carter,” the redheaded agent said with exasperation. “Not like Captain America.”

 

Nina and Jamie stifled giggles and even Kia cracked a smile.

 

“But the really interesting thing is the implants and the changes to his brain.”

 

A scan of Liam’s head showed up.

 

“His metabolic rate is extraordinary. On par with a metahuman. I would hazard guess that it has something to do with his regeneration, constantly feeding the cells. He has an implant in his adrenal gland, that flood his body with increased adrenaline. It’s somehow linked to his neural process’, again it’s difficult to tell how that works.”

 

“You seem to be telling us more about what you don’t know, then what you do,” Kia interjected.

 

Alex’s face took on an excited look and she began waving her hands enthusiastically.

 

“Well that’s just it, I’ve never even seen tech like this before. Chemical modification, cell modification... I don’t know how you’re still alive. The number of surgeries….” she said trailing off.

 

Everyone at the table turned to stare at the tall green-eyed man, and he fidgeted in his seat.

 

“I don’t remember a lot. It was… painful,” he said while rubbing his chest and grimacing.

 

_Blood. Water. Screams._

 

_You are Cadmus._

 

Liam shook the thoughts loose from his head when his mother laid a cool hand on his and gave him a weak smile.

 

“It’s ok. You’re home now.”

 

Liam smiled back and patted her hand, while Kara and Kia both looked troubled.

 

Maggie coughed to break the stillness.

 

“Anyway,” Alex said continuing unflustered. “You also have a translator chip implanted. It appears to be Cadmus tech. Which is interesting again because you have been using it to talk to various aliens. If the languages were already programmed in, it’s rather worrying. It would mean that Cadmus has far more access to Alien data then we thought.”

 

A wave of unease crossed the table. Images of tortured aliens crossed everyone’s mind.

 

“The only other explanation would be, that the chip has a learning function. It can pick up and analyse patterns of speech to translate. Again worrying… borderline AI.”

 

Jamie and Nina began to shot Liam looks of unease. Artificial Intelligence controlled by Cadmus in someone’s head was a very frightening thought.

 

“So… they can control him?” Carter asked.

 

Alex shook her head.

 

“No. There appears to be damage to most of the implants, but one, in particular, is completely shredded, even though we didn’t take the risk to remove it.”

 

Two scans appeared.

 

“On the left, we can see Liam’s head. And on the right, our unknown agent. These,” she said pointing to one of the small fuzzy lumps in the dark-haired man’s brain and another equally fuzzy lump in the Cadmus agent's scan.

 

“Look like control chips. Liam’s is completely blown out, but the agents is still intact. From what we can see, the agent’s is also far more advanced and links up to the communication module Liam extracted from his ear.”

 

Kara looked horrified.

 

“So he’s being mind controlled?”

 

The redhead quelled her sister’s fears.

 

“No, he’s not. It’s not that advanced. More likely it would give the agent nudges and monitor activity. And possibly whereabouts. But any tracking functions it had are nullified in the DEO. The emitters in that room alone…”

 

“But Alex,” Kara said interrupting again. “None of this makes any sense. Liam’s implants are older and yet he’s stronger? He broke through those chains like they were butter.”

 

“Ahh, but the agent doesn’t have Liam’s skeletal or muscular modifications.”

 

“But he has the healing factor?” Lena inquired confused before standing and starting to pace. “The tech in the agent is new, but in the end Liam is far more advanced?”

 

“Well, not exactly-“

 

“But what exactly  **is**  the healing factor?” Kara questioned.

  
  
“Well-“

 

“And why would Liam need to have the cellular and skeletal modifications on top of it?” Lena asked.

 

“Possibly-“

 

“Maybe to have the increased strength? But if he was an original subject, why didn’t they repeat it with all the future ones?” The blonde asked her ex.

 

“ENOUGH!” Alex shouted.

 

Lena and Kara snapped out of their thoughts and sat back down looking slightly sheepish but still deep in thought. The redheaded agent sighed and ran a hand through her hair while shooting Kara and her ex-sister-in-law looks. Maggie bit her lip to stop herself laughing, and instead sent her wife an encouraging thumbs up.

 

“The answer is,” Alex restarted. “That we just don’t know for sure. These questions… I can’t possibly know until I find out the why. Why does Cadmus do anything? Why was Liam chosen to be experimented on in the first place? Why is it the first time in ten years we’ve seen any sort of movement on their part, particularly if this,” she said waving her hands over her research. “Is what they were doing ten years ago. Why wait this long? I don’t know the answers to these questions. There are only two people who could tell us anything at the moment. One is in a cell, muttering propaganda. And the other is sitting at this table.”

 

The eyes of the group turned back to Liam expectantly. He leant back in his chair and sighed before rubbing a hand down his face.

 

“I don’t know what their plans are. Honestly. The last thing I can remember is the building… bunker…the prison I was in was being attacked. I woke up, and the place was on fire. Everyone was running around, walls were blown apart. It was being attacked by… something. I didn’t hang around longer to find out what. I managed to get out and ran as fast as I could. Managed to find some clothes and figure out my game plan. I knew, that if I stayed on world, I would either spend my life running or be recaptured by you guys or Cadmus. None of those prospects appealed to me. I remembered hearing about an alien underground running out of Gotham and I took my chance and found my way there. By pure accident, I crossed paths with this grouchy old bounty hunter on his way off world and I begged him to take me with him. I had to indenture myself for two years just to buy my ticket off this rock.”

 

The table absorbed the new information in silence and Lena once again felt lost at what to do. it was times like this when it hit home that Liam had been travelling the galaxy for nearly ten years. The things he must have seen… In fact, the only person who didn’t seem surprised, or slightly in awe in Carter’s case, was Kara. But of course, she had heard this all before.

 

A pang of bitterness spiked the CEO’s heart.

 

“Why did they experiment on you, Liam? What were their plans?” J’onn questioned.

 

Liam shrugged his shoulders and spoke in a frustrated voice.

 

“I’ve said it before, I don’t know. I was broken out of prison by them and I was thrown into a world of pain. I honestly don’t remember all of it. But I do know, that I wasn’t the only one. I remember training with a group of others. That’s how I recognised the agent. Something they did,” he continued while rubbing the spot on his neck. “We could sense each other. I don’t know why.”

 

J’onn hummed and looked at the table.

 

“Maybe there was supposed to be a group of them? Advanced soldiers or something,” Winn said, contributing for the first time.

 

“Well, then the question still remains… what happened?” Lena replied.

 

Another silence fell over the table before J’onn made the move to stand.

 

“I fear this situation is going to run far more deeply and widely then we could have guessed. Cadmus has had the chance to grow and expand for the last ten years and from the look of this tech,” he said pointing to the still running projections. “They are miles ahead of us.”

 

“I want all hands on deck. Reach out to all your contacts, I want to know what they’re doing and what their goals are. I want to find them. Agent Schott, where are we with finding out information on the agent?”

 

“Technically I’m retired,” Winn muttered before standing and addressing the group.

 

“I’ve managed to get a name,” he said flicking up a grainy traffic photo of the man.

 

“Eric Hooper. Forty-two years old. He used to be an accountant, and worked in a middle-income job at a small firm in Metropolis until five years ago when he completely disappeared.”

 

“Any family?” Alex asked while Winn shook his head.

 

“None. A complete loner, in fact, no friends nothing. The only reason he was reported missing at all was that he didn’t come back to work from his holiday leave.”

 

“He took a holiday right when he disappeared?” Kia asked frowning.

 

“Yeah, and the funny thing is, I can’t tell where. All his bank transactions stopped the week before. And all of his images have been deleted from everywhere I looked. By chance, I managed to find this photo and track him down. It’s like he was supposed to be erased.”

 

Liam stared intently at the photo of the man.

 

He was unassuming enough. Why would a man like that get involved with Cadmus? Why would Cadmus be interested in a man like that?

 

Kara let out a frustrated sigh.

 

“So, it’s basically another dead end.”

 

“Hey, I’m doing the best I can. I didn’t ask for this mess!” Winn snapped back.

 

“And it was pretty bloody hard!” Jamie continued.

 

The tension at the table rose by a million degrees and Kia turned to Jamie ready to snap back.

 

“HEY!”

 

The occupants of the table turned to face a standing and angry Liam.

 

“We need to stop fighting with each other. This is what Cadmus wants, for us to be divided.”

 

“Unless it has escaped your notice,” Kia started poisonously. “ **You**  are the reason for this division, to begin with.”

 

A dreaded silence fell across the table and everyone braced themselves for Liam to explode. Instead, he stared calmly at his sister for a few seconds before gazing over the table, his eyes stopping on Kara’s.

 

“I can’t change the past. I know, that this is shit. Me coming back here has changed everything. Half of you don’t trust me, the other half only partly trust me. Nobody knows all the facts and even if they do,” he continued staring into unwavering blue eyes. “You don’t entirely believe them.”

 

He turned from the blonde-haired hero and looked at his sister.

 

“I’m not an innocent man. I’ve done things, reprehensible things… But even if you don’t believe me… I  _know_  you don’t believe me… I didn’t blow up that hospital Kia.”

 

His sister’s eyes wavered slightly and Liam pressed on.

 

“But you need proof other than my word, and I understand that. But Kia, the only way to get that proof. To get the answers to any of the questions you have, that I have, that we all have,” he said gesturing over the table.

 

“Is to find Cadmus. To find the truth, we have to find them. And to find them, we have to do it together. All of us.”

 

Liam paused briefly, before taking a breath.

 

“And for that to work… for the duration of this mission… you need to trust me. I’m sorry, but you do. So right now, you need to make a choice. No more of this half-arsed shit. Either put me in prison right now or let me help you.”

 

The dark-haired man sat down and the table remained quiet for a minute before J’onn stood up.

 

“Liam is right. Now isn’t the time to be fighting amongst ourselves. I think having him on our side will be an asset to finding and rooting out Cadmus once and for all. But I can’t be the only one making that decision. We need to make it together.”

 

J’onn looked Liam dead in the eye, and the dark-haired man shuddered at the feeling of a wire brush crossing his brain quickly before it disappeared when the Maritan blinked.

 

“I trust him.”

 

The director sat down and there was a brief pause before Maggie stood up.

 

“Look, there are more people who should probably be here for this but frankly we don’t have the time. They’re just going to have to stick with whatever decision this group makes. The one we make together.”

 

The detective looked Liam up and down briefly.

 

“I believe him. I vote to trust him,” she said before sitting down and giving her nephew a nod.

 

Jamie stood up next.

 

“I want to, I do. But we can’t take the risk in case he’s been compromised. I don’t trust him”

 

The young redhead looked at her tall cousin who maintained a neutral face but nodded in acknowledgement.

 

Carter stood up.

 

“I don’t trust him,” he said simply before sitting down. Liam wasn’t particularly surprised.

 

Alex was next. She looked at her nephew with pity, and the green-eyed man knew immediately what her answer was going to be.

 

“I’m sorry, but no. I want to, I really do… But if there is even the slight chance, we can’t risk it.”

 

The redhead sat down and she avoided Lena’s gaze, which she could feel burning into her head.

 

Nina stood up next.

 

“I vote yes. We should trust him. Innocent until proven guilty. The second we start believing the opposite, we are no better then what we are fighting.”

 

The small woman gave Liam a firm nod which he returned with gratitude.

 

Kara stood next and everyone held their breath. The blonde stared intently at her son for a minute, searching his eyes for something before she breathed out her answer.

 

“Trust him.”

 

Liam’s heart began to pound in his chest and he felt a ringing in his ears while Lena nearly levitated with joy. Kara averted her eyes and stared down at the table with a small frown. If the other members of the group were shocked by her answer, they hid it well because Winn stood up without a pause.

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and closed his eyes. “I vote no.”

 

That did shock Liam slightly, but he schooled his features rapidly even though he still felt a pinprick of hurt pierce his heart. His mother, however, seemed furious and rose in her chair ready to cast her vote but Liam’s hand on her arm stopped her.

 

“No Mom. You don’t get to vote.”

 

“What do you mean?” She said incredulously. “I have as much right-“

 

“We all know how you are going to vote Mom. And you’re biased.”

 

“EVERYONE IS BIASED!”

 

Liam shook his head in response.

 

“Not like you Mom. It shouldn’t be up to you anyway.”

 

Lena looked around the table, but everyone sat in grim agreement with Liam’s words. The CEO remained seated but didn’t chain her fury.

 

“This is complete-“

 

“MOM!”

 

Lena finally fell silent when Liam barked and resigned herself to figuring out how to best break her son out of prison.

 

The dark-haired man’s gaze turned from his mother to his sister’s stormy blue eyes.

 

“It’s up to you Kia.”

 

His sister didn’t respond, but a wave of emotion crossed her face as she looked at him. Her eyes darted to each member of the table, stopping on both of her mothers before returning to him and she began to speed whisper.

 

_“Why should I trust you?”_

 

Kara’s eyebrow twitched as she picked up on the words.

 

Liam didn’t hesitate before replying.

 

_“I can’t tell you why. If I was you, I wouldn’t trust me.”_

 

His sister paused briefly.

 

_“I don’t think I can. But if I don’t, it will destroy her.”_

 

It was Liam’s turn to pause. His eyes danced to his CEO mother before he briefly closed them and his breath evened out.

 

_“This isn’t about her. This is about you and me. Mom will love you no matter what you decide, you have to believe in that. You need to do what your heart tells you. If you follow that, it won’t be the wrong decision.”_

 

Kia paused again.

 

_“She died in that bombing, Liam. I held her in my arms, and she was dead. I couldn’t save her from it. From something, you were involved in. You may not have done it, but you became a member of Cadmus. No one forced you to do that.”_

 

Liam replied gently.

 

_“You’re right. So I guess… I’m not asking for your trust so much as your forgiveness. And I know this is ten years too late… but I am so sorry about Rebecca. She was the kindest person on Earth, and for some insane reason, she loved you. But me apologising isn’t enough, I understand that. For her death, nothing will ever be enough. But I promise you… I will find the person responsible and I will bring them to their knees before you. I swear it.”_

 

A single tear escaped Kia’s eye and splashed on the table top. She stared at her brother intently, but he had schooled his face into an expressionless one. She was in turmoil. Ten years of pain and anger was demanding to be released.

 

_Send him back to prison. I’ll take him myself._

 

It battled with her better nature. She knew what that would do to her mother. And as much as she hated to admit it, to the rest of the family.

 

To her Mama.

 

And maybe even to her.

 

_What does your heart want?_

 

Kia was growing frustrated with herself, she had no idea what her heart wanted. Her heart wanted her dead fiance back.

 

_What would Rebecca do?_

 

Kia stood up from her chair and looked down at her brother.

 

“I vote to trust him.”

 

Lena stared at her daughter stunned, but a beaming smile crossed her face.

 

Kara stared at her son stunned, but a thoughtful expression crossed her face.

 

Liam and Kia stared at each other, a silent understanding passing between them.

 

Everyone else just stared.

 

“Well,” Maggie said with faux cheer. “Now that we’ve finally dealt with that issue… can we get on with the nitty gritty about how we are going to take these bastards down.”

 

* * *

 

The meeting wrapped up fairly quickly afterwards. Everyone was basically to continue as they were doing for now, including reaching out to their leads. Lena had sworn to help with anything technological and even volunteered her time to assist Winn in attempting to find more leads on Cadmus, something he was hesitant to accept before J’onn forced the issue.

 

“Nobody will hold anyone’s votes over them, Winn, I promise you. It’s not every day the CEO of L-Corp offers their expertise, just smile and say thank you.”

 

While Lena talked to Winn, Alex and Kara pulled Liam to the side.

 

“We need to discuss your training,” Alex said briskly.

 

“My training?”

 

“Yes,” the redhead continued. “If you’re going to be in the field, you’re going to be properly outfitted and we need to know your abilities.”

 

The bearded man’s eyes lit up.

 

“I’m going in the field? Please tell me I get my baby back!”

 

The redhead frowned, missing his meaning.

 

“The big gun?” Liam said with exasperation.

 

Alex nodded in understanding and a small smile graced her lips. She could appreciate her nephew’s affinity for his gun. From what she could study of it, it was truly a work of art.

 

“Maybe... I actually meant to ask you a few questions about it.”

 

“Oh, I bet you did,” Liam muttered darkly, thoughts of his dissected weapon flashing through his mind.

 

“Back to the matter at hand,” Kara interrupted impatiently. “You’ll need to have your skills assessed.”

 

“Right,” Liam said, nodding seriously. “Who will I be doing that with then?”

 

The blonde hero arched an eyebrow.

 

“Me of course.”

 

The dark-haired man blinked at the smirking woman rapidly, before he grew an evil smile of his own.

 

“No holding back?” He queried.

 

“No holding back.”

 

Liam was ready to march to the training room right then and there when Maggie, who had overheard the last part of the conversation, grabbed his shoulder.

 

“Hold on there Tree, your Mom just told me you have to go now if you want to make it before the zoo closes.”

 

Liam's face dawned in understanding and a happy smile crossed his face.

 

“Gotta make up for ten years of birthdays! I wonder how many new penguins they have..” he drifted off excitedly.

 

“Can I come? I’d love to see the penguins.” Maggie asked, breaking his train of thought.

 

Liam was slightly surprised, as far as he knew his aunt had never even been to the zoo before, let alone expressed an interest in penguins.

 

“Sure,” he answered easily. “Of course you can.”

 

His dimpled aunt smiled at him before she turned to Kara.

 

“Cool. Then we can go to dinner after. All five of us!”

 

Liam shook his head in confusion.

 

“I’m sorry, all five of us?”

 

Maggie looked at him like he was thick, and began counting on her fingers.

 

“Lena, you, me, Nina and Kara. All five of us.”

 

The blonde hero and the dark-haired man immediately began protesting.

 

“Now hang on a minute-“

 

“What do you mean she’s-“

 

“I’m not going-“

 

Maggie held up her hands to stop their protesting before she pointed a finger at Kara.

 

“First of all, you love the penguins at the zoo. And I know for a fact that you haven’t been there in ten years either. In fact, every year once a year on his birthday,” she said jerking her thumb towards Liam. “You ‘disappear’ for twenty-four hours. In fact, yesterday was the first time you didn’t go flying off somewhere. But you still spent the night on my couch watching bad romantic comedies which can’t be healthy either... So just come to the fucking zoo with me.”

 

“And you want to regain a birthday tradition?” she said rounding on her much taller nephew. “Start by remembering that she’s a part of it.”

 

* * *

 

After the most awkward car ride of the century (because Maggie had forbidden Kara to fly) they arrived at the zoo. Maggie happily led the rather morose group towards the ticket booth and stopped Lena when she tried to pay.

 

“No, no Lena. It’s on me. Consider it my birthday present,” she said shooting Liam a wink.

 

Once they’d all been given their maps the detective turned to face the group again.

 

“I think it’s a good idea to split up, don’t you guys agree? Cover more ground that way.”

 

The group barely had time to process Maggie’s weird logic before the woman continued by turning to Nina and Lena.

 

“Right. We’ll go this way and we’ll leave these two,” she said pointing to Liam and Kara.“To go that way.”

 

“Shall we say, meet up at the penguins in an hour?” She shouted over her shoulder, dragging Lena and Nina with her in her wake while Kara and Liam stood mute, rooted to the spot.

 

After they had disappeared from sight, Liam began stalking off in the direction of the African animals without a word to his older companion. Kara trailed behind him, equally silent.

 

It was only when they reached the lions, that the blonde woman spoke.

 

“Thank you, for what you did today,” she said softly.

 

Liam looked down at her quickly, before asking warily.

 

“What did I do?”

 

“You apologised to Kia. About Rebecca.”

 

The dark-haired man scowled at his mother.

 

“I didn’t apologise because I did it. Do you no longer believe me now?”

 

The blonde haired woman’s temper was beginning to fray and she snapped back.

 

“I didn’t say that Liam. I just appreciate the fact that you acknowledged her loss. She needed that. She’s been holding on to the pain for far too long.”

 

“Well,” the dark-haired grumbled while he pretended to read the Hyena sign. “We all know a thing or two about pain.”

 

Kara hummed in response.

 

* * *

 

Lena was looking at her watch every three seconds.

 

“I really don’t think it was a good idea to leave them alone together,” she said worriedly.

 

Maggie rolled her eyes at the CEO’s mother hen attitude.

 

“Look, at some point, they are going to have to learn to get along. At the very least, to talk civilly. No time like the present. We’re all trying to move forward today after all.”

 

The green-eyed woman nodded, still distracted by imaginary scenarios of super fist fights.

 

“Come on Lena,” Maggie said prodding the other woman. “They’ve got to sort it out themselves if they’re going to work together. Maybe you should do the same.”

 

Lena turned to look at the other woman with confusion in her eyes and the detective pointed ahead at their younger companion who was currently studying the birds in the Avery.

 

The green-eyed woman sighed and a wave of tiredness crossed her face.

 

“How did you even know about that?”

 

The Latina looked at her insulted.

 

“I’m a detective Lena. I detect. Besides, it’s not exactly subtle. The air con wasn’t on in that car but I could sure detect a chill coming off you. Plus, she may have told me. Why didn’t you let the poor girl go to dinner Lena? It was Antonio’s!”

 

The CEO scowled and crossed her arms.

 

“I’ll not be talked to the way she did.”

 

Maggie snorted.

 

“Oh come off it Lena. Everyone is going crazy at the moment, especially that day, and you want to hold it over her forever? Hell, I told you the exact same thing, and you know it was right. You’re the grown up here. Be the bigger person.”

 

The CEO huffed but did as she was bid and marched forward until she was standing next to Nina. The younger woman looked at her like a deer in headlights and Lena felt her anger melt.

 

“Sorry for not letting you come to dinner yesterday.”

 

The short woman rushed to reply.

 

“No, don’t be sorry auntie! I should be sorry, I didn’t mean to go insane the way I did. I mean, I meant to say it, but not the way I said it if that makes any sense. I just… all of this is so complicated. My head’s all over the place! But I really didn’t mean…. You know that I think you’re a great person right? I think you’re amazing! All the wonderful things you’ve done-“

 

“Woah, Woah!” Lena said, grinning despite herself. She was surrounded by ramblers it seemed.

 

“You sound like you’re going to apply for a job, you don’t have to kiss my arse.”

 

Nina looked horrified.

 

“Oh no! Please, I wasn’t trying to butter you up-“

 

“Nina,” Lena said while placing a gentle hand on the girl’s tense shoulder. “Relax.”

 

The shorter woman let out a breath and the green-eyed woman released her shoulder.

 

“Look, while I didn’t appreciate your tone, what you said was true and it helped give me a kick to reach out to Kia properly so…. thank you. And I’m sorry… for being so cold. Sometimes, when I feel attacked I withdraw into myself, but it wasn’t fair of me to be cruel and lash out at you. Forgive me?”

 

Nina practically threw her arms around the older woman and gripped her in a tight hug that knocked the wind from Lena’s lungs.

 

“You children these days,” she said with a soft chuckle while stroking the shorter woman’s hair.  

 

“So emotional.”

 

When Nina finally let go of her death grip she was wiping tears from her eyes and Lena felt a stab of empathy.

 

“I forget sometimes how young you are. You hide it behind a prickly exterior, I’ll give you that. Sometimes it’s ok to be vulnerable you know. It took me until I was much older than you to learn that lesson, I don’t want you to have to wait that long.”

 

The younger woman gave her a weak smile and nodded. Maggie chose that moment to appear next to them, slurping a smoothie out of a giraffe-shaped cup.

 

“All good then you two? Thank God, I want to see the kangaroos before we all die of old age.”

 

* * *

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Liam blinked down at the short middle-aged woman who had spoken to him. He gave her a polite smile.

 

“Would you mind taking a photo of us?” She asked holding out her phone and pointing to her husband and two children standing in front of the orangutan enclosure.

 

“Of course,” Liam said while taking the phone from her outstretched hand.

 

The happy family grouped together and smiled widely. The dark-haired man took a series of photos before handing the phone back while being thanked profusely.

 

Kara watched the happy family walk off and her eyes trailed after them before turning to her son.

 

“Do you know your mother had never visited the zoo until I took her?”

 

Liam’s train of thought was cut off as he registered the blonde woman’s words.

 

“Really?” He asked surprised.

 

Kara nodded and her face softened and a small smile graced it, making her look twenty years younger.

 

_“What do you mean you’ve never been to the zoo?” Kara said incredulously staring at her girlfriend like she was a mutant._

 

_Lena gave her an amused grin. The blonde’s inability to comprehend things the CEO had or hadn’t done in her life was a constant source of amusement for the brunette._

 

_“Exactly what I said, darling.”_

 

_The blonde hero shook her head like a dog trying to get water out of its ears._

 

_“No, no, no that just won’t do. How can you have gone through life without seeing the animals at the zoo?”_

 

_“Well,” Lena said pondering. “I’m fairly certain that L-Corp donates to the breeding program at the Metropolis zoo.”_

 

_Kara scoffed._

 

_“While I adore your generosity and conservation is very important, the Metropolis zoo doesn’t have anything on National City’s! I go every month to visit Sprinkles.”_

 

_“Sprinkles?” Lena questioned with a raised eyebrow and the blonde nodded enthusiastically._

 

_“National City’s resident fairy penguin! She’s magnificent! And no matter what, she always says hello to me. I helped out as Supergirl once when they did a school tour, they even let me into the enclosure to see her first hand!”_

 

_Lena couldn’t help but be infected by Kara’s uninhibited enthusiasm for the bird she was clearly enamoured with._

 

_“Well, I simply have to meet her then.”_

 

_The blonde nearly began to hover in excitement._

 

_“I’ll take you this weekend! I promise you’ll never want to leave!”_

 

“The reason they named the exhibit after her, was because she donated so much money to the conservation of wild penguins. She said she did it for me as a gift, but I know it’s because she adores them even more then I do. I even tried to convince the zoo to let me borrow Sprinkles as a ring bearer for the wedding, but they wouldn’t let me,” she said finishing with a frown.

 

Liam stared at the happy woman, lost in her memories.

 

“I didn’t know that,” he said softly and Kara turned to look at him.

 

She hesitated before she continued.

 

“I wonder sometimes, how different all our lives could have been. If I had done something different… if your mother had… if you had. But ten years of reminiscing has drained my energy, not to mention my time. I think I’d prefer to focus on the future, rather than the past any longer.”

 

Liam's face grew stormy as he rounded on the woman.

 

“What is this? An attempt to play happy families? I stand by what I said, we do need to trust one another. But this,” he said indicating the divide between them. “Isn’t so easily fixed. You think because you interrogate and strip my life apart for hours you know me now?”

 

Kara stopped him by grabbing his fingers with her own and it was like an electric shock passed through them both.

 

“Listen to me, Liam. There are things, secrets, between us that no one else knows. We are bonded through that if nothing else.”

 

Kara gave a shuddered sigh before she continued.

 

“But that isn’t all that ties us and you know it. I don’t know if we will ever be close again, I don’t even know if I want that again. But once upon a time, as much as you might like to deny it, we were mother and son. And we were a happy family.”

 

She dropped his hand the second she finished, and the silence grew between them. Liam stared down at his fingers like her touch had left a stain.

 

“Happiness is a delusion,” he said darkly while staring at her with ferocity.

 

Kara’s eyes filled with pity.

 

“Oh, Liam… happiness isn’t a delusion. It’s something we should all strive for. It’s the greatest thing you can achieve in life.”

 

“And what would you know?” He spat out viciously. “With everything you’ve lost, you’re an idiot to pretend. Trying to preach to me… I don’t think you’re overjoyed with your life.”

 

The blonde withdrew from him like she’d been stung and her face hardened once more as pain filled her eyes.

 

“Sometimes you can find lost things again,” she stated simply before walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here we go, another chapterino. Hope you guys enjoy! Shoot me a comment if you'd like, I love to read them :)

“I wonder where they are?” Nina asked, looking in all directions while trying to spot her blonde aunt and Liam in the dwindling crowd. She, Maggie and Lena had been waiting for fifteen minutes outside of the penguin exhibit and the other pair had yet to make an appearance.

 

Maggie checked her watch.

 

“Well, they’re only a few minutes late.”

 

Lena frowned.

 

“I wouldn’t think they’d want to prolong their time in each others company.”

 

The detective shrugged, before again checking her watch.

 

“Well, maybe they’ve finally started talking to each other. Anyway, they really are only a few minutes late.”

 

The brunette CEO hummed in an unconvincing tone.

 

“I just hope they’re both alright.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“You know, normally people frequent the gift shop on their way out of the zoo,” Liam said sarcastically while standing next to the ornamental snow globes and magnets. 

 

Kara didn’t even bother to look up from her perusal of the city guides. The dark-haired man huffed and checked his phone when it buzzed in his pocket.

 

“Mom’s wondering where we are. We were due to be at the exhibit fifteen minutes ago,” he said with exasperation.

 

The blonde haired woman didn’t comment and merely nodded distractedly, intently focused on the book she was looking at. The tall man’s annoyance grew and he strode over to look at what had the woman so zoned out. He snorted when he read the title.

 

“You’re kidding, right? ‘The Unofficial Biography of Supergirl’? Tell me you haven’t become that self-centred that you need to read this glowing fan fiction about yourself.”

 

Liam craned his neck further, and let out a laugh.

 

“A bestseller, really? Oh my God.”

 

Kara grunted in irritation and put the book back on the shelf.

 

“It came out last month. Written by some gossip rag hack.”

 

“What’s CatCo magazine?” Liam said snakily, making the blue-eyed hero shoot him a look.

 

“It’s completely full of lies. Not a single fact, unless it’s already public knowledge. It’s basically a conspiracy theory in a blue and red cover.”

 

The bearded man reached over the pluck the book back of the shelf. The cover had a smiling photo of Kara in her Supergirl days plastered on it, along with glowing commendations for the book in quotes on the front. Liam’s amused smile at the blonde’s expense faded when he read the author’s name.”

 

“Todd Peterson,” he said with disgust, throwing the book back haphazardly. “Why is that termite always turning up where he’s least wanted. How is his rubbish getting any readership anyway? He’s a fucking stalker.”

 

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten,” Kara said darkly.

 

_The blonde woman closed the door of her son’s bedroom. He had finally managed to fall asleep after his rather traumatic exit from the hospital. Lena and Kara wanted to make his move back to his home as happy as possible. After the last few weeks that he spent miserably being monitored, their little boy was ecstatic at the thought of going home._

 

_A downside of being a Luthor was that the press was merciless in the pursuit of a story regarding the notorious family. Thus far, with Kara’s contacts and Cat Grant’s influence, Lena and her wife had managed to keep the news in the dark about their son’s sickness and frequent hospital visits._

 

_That had changed today when their personal paparazzo, Todd Peterson, had somehow found out and bribed a nurse to get access to the ward. He had managed to break into Liam’s room and take photo’s of the sickly boy before security had caught him. His mothers had arrived at the hospital to take their son home and were met with an inconsolable boy._

 

_Lena was still on the phone when her wife walked into the living room._

 

_“I want him prosecuted, do you hear me? I want him in jail and to never see the light of day!” The brunette woman finished her call and nearly threw her phone across the room while bursting into frustrated tears._

 

_Kara rushed to console her wife and wrapped her in a firm hug._

 

_“Shh, Shh… It’s ok.”_

 

_The CEO ripped herself from the blonde’s arms and eyed her wife a heavy look._

 

_“It is decidedly NOT ok Kara! Those photos are all over the internet now. Everyone knows! I want that man strung up and quartered for what he did. Liam should have come home happy, now he’s been traumatised by a crazy journalist asking him questions about his visits to the hospital and taking a million photos of him.”_

 

_“I’ll get those photos down Lena, and Cat called and assured me that she will be putting feelers out. I think his career prospects are over.”_

 

_“You underestimate just how horrible people can be Kara. Trust me, if the man can, he will find work again. The masses love to feed on these coach roaches words. They love a scandal when it come’s to our name,” Lena said honestly, speaking from experience._

 

_The blonde wrapped her arms around her wife again, pressing Lena’s back into her front._

 

_“It’ll be ok sweetheart. We’ve lived through worse than this, and so has Liam. We’re Luthors and you know what that means, remember?”_

 

_Lena smiled weakly, before holding onto Kara’s arms tight._

 

_“We’re survivors.”_

 

 

“He destroyed her after the divorce, you know?” Kara said distractedly while beginning to walk out of the shop.

 

Liam’s ears perked up.

 

“Oh?” He asked not so casually. “What did he say?”

 

The blonde rolled her eyes.

 

“The usual vitriol. Apparently, your mother was abusing me for years and was an alcoholic evidently. I just finally cracked under the pressure. The reason you hadn’t been heard from in years was because you ran away from the violence. At least one good thing about me being a journalist is that these stories never hit ‘real’ media. But no matter what, some people will always associate our last name with the vilest of actions. You think people would’ve learned that just because a person does something heinous, it doesn’t mean their whole family is evil.”

 

The thought twinged in his head, that the last comment was directed at him but Liam grimaced at the idea of his mother being labelled as an abusive alcoholic in the press. His absence wouldn’t have helped the speculation either.

 

In reality, he didn’t think his absence has helped anything.

 

He was slightly distracted when he realised what else the blonde had said.

 

“Hang on,” he asked, pulling Kara to a hard stop. “Did you just say ‘our’ last name?”

 

The blonde hero pushed her glasses, which had slipped off her nose at the sudden jarring motion, up and looked at him annoyed.

 

“Well yes Liam, the last time I checked when I married our mother I took her last name.”

 

The tall, dark-haired man stared at her stupidly and in disbelief.

 

“But you kept it. Even after the divorce?”

 

The blue-eyed woman didn’t even blink but raised a confused eyebrow.

 

“Why wouldn’t I?”

 

Liam stumbled over his words slightly.

 

“Well… I guess I just-“

 

Suddenly, a huge itch began to develop on the back of his neck and he reached to scratch it before he realised what was happening and his body went cold. Kara was still staring at him and looking confusedly to his frozen, half-raised arm. His mind raced to form a plan.

 

He offered her a strained smile, which seemed to shock her even further before he scratched his neck and began casually walking again like nothing had happened.

 

_“Cadmus is here. An agent”_ he whispered fast and in Kryptonian, hoping that the doubled difficulty would stop any enemy agents from understanding.

 

The blonde hero’s eyes began to flash, but before she could move Liam stopped her with a hiss.

 

_“Hold on for two seconds. We need a plan here.”_

 

She narrowed her eyes, before whispering back just as fast.

 

_“What do you suggest I do? I need to change and come back as Superwoman!”_

 

_“Just keep walking with me for now. They haven’t made their move yet. Why aren’t they doing anything?”_

 

Liam continued walking and started to speak to the blonde in a normal voice.

 

“We should probably hurry and get to the exhibit now. Wouldn’t want to be any later.”

 

Kara hummed and walked beside him her eyes darting around to take in the area.

 

_“I can’t see anybody out of the ordinary here. Are you sure?”_ she hissed out.

 

The itching feeling was growing irritating, and Liam had to really resist the urge to scratch it. Instead, he settled on whispering back in a patronising tone. 

 

_“Of course I’m fucking sure. And we have to be careful now. This situation is completely loaded and could go south in more than one way. You need to get Mom, Nina and Maggie notified and preferably out of here. You do that and get everyone and their grandmother down here to help. I’ll handle it until you get back. But for God’s sake, try to be subtle.”_

 

Kara nodded along to his normally spoken words but continued their fast-paced language under her breath.

 

_“Listen to me. There are other civilians here. You need to be careful, and I don’t think that you can manage that alone.”_

 

Liam felt like groaning.

 

_“Look, they haven’t made their move yet. That means that don’t want to kill me, or at least not loudly. They don’t want this to go too public either, the whole thing is way too high profile. Mom hasn’t been keeping my return under wraps, and undoubtedly the press is going to know about it soon. Especially since we just entered a public place, with loads of people who will recognise us. So I’m back, then suddenly a public place is attacked where I'm with my two divorced parents? This has the potential to spill a lot of secrets if we’re not careful. I’m telling you, they want something and they want it quietly. Please don’t incite a panic when you guys come back in. ”_

 

Kara paused for a microsecond.

 

_“So what, you want to talk to them. Alone. With no comms?”_

 

Liam eyed her expression and scanned it for any sign of emotion but she was abnormally blank. Well maybe it wasn’t abnormal anymore, it wasn’t like Liam would know these days.

 

_“I need you to trust me,”_ he asked, in a strained voice.

 

She stared at him still, but her face nodded slightly.

 

_“Don’t get yourself killed,”_ she said before they stopped at a vending machine and the dark-haired man began to pull out quarters for it.

 

“Look, you keep saying you want to get there, then you drag out our steps. I’ve no interest in being annoyed by you any longer than necessary. I’m going ahead, meet us when you’re ready,” she said, finishing sarcastically before stalking off.

 

Liam flipped her off, before punching in the number for his drink.

 

When he turned around, the woman behind him in line bumped him and they both scrambled for their loose change.

 

“Hello Liam,” she said softly and with a menacing grin.

 

As the bearded man stood and straightened, he analysed the woman carefully.

 

Tall, long black hair, muscular and a pretty smile that almost made up for the cruelty in her eyes.

 

“Hello,” he said back cheerfully before holding out one of the two drinks of water he had bought. “Would you like a drink?”

 

His attitude seemed to throw off the agent briefly, and Liam took the few seconds needed to push his way past her and sit down on a bench. She scrambled after him and opened her mouth to speak again, but he cut her off by patting the seat next to him.

 

“Come on then, let's have at it.”

 

The woman paused again before she sat down with delicacy.

 

Liam took a gulp of his water and let out a loud sigh.

 

“So you know my name, do I get yours?” He inquired conversationally.

 

The woman hissed and suddenly he felt a knife slip through his ribs and hold. It hurt like hell as his body kept trying to heal and close the wound only to be cut again and again. Blood began the drip down his side, but the unnamed agent moved close to him blocking the view from the passerby people who were slowly trickling out of the zoo. Liam didn’t move and forced the burning in his side from his mind.

 

“Now, now…” He said in a steady voice. “That’s one way to get to know a person. But you still didn’t give me a name?”

 

“I am Cadmus,” the woman answered, shifting the knife slightly to add new pain to his ribs. It felt like it was grating along them.

 

“Right,” he said slightly breathlessly. “But to be fair, all of you say that so it doesn’t give me much to go on.”

 

The knife twisted ruffly and he really had to bite his tongue not to yelp.

 

“You speak far too many words, mutt,” she growled out lowly into his ear. “It is a wonder other’s haven’t cut your tongue out.”

 

“Well,” Liam continued slowly growing a bit foggy. “There was this one time when I stayed in this sort of halfway house for aliens OH FUCK!”

 

She had yanked the blade further across his body, and his outburst had caused the tourists to give him looks of disproval.

 

Oh never mind me, he thought sarcastically. Just bleeding out on a bench here. Hope you enjoyed your visit.

 

“Look,” he muttered in a dark tone. “Just tell me what you want. Obviously, it isn’t to kill me. You want something.”

 

“We have your mother,” she answered instead and Liam would have laughed except he wasn’t sure if the knife had pierced a lung.

 

“Oh really?” He answered in an unimpressed tone that caused the knife to twist again.

 

Liam let out a grunt and continued in an annoyed tone.

 

“Look, I know you don’t have her. Clearly, you are trying to extort something from me and you’re not being very clever about it. Leads me to wonder if you guys have any sense at all. Probably not even real Cadmus,” he insulted.

 

The knife made no movement, and a wash of realisation passed through him as he turned to face the woman whose eyes had become slightly haunted.

 

“You’re not, are you? Then who-“ 

 

Liam could hear the whistle of a bullet and suddenly the woman’s head exploded brutally, spraying the dark-haired man in dark globs of blood and brain. He spluttered and hit the ground, the knife in his side sinking further in causing him to gasp. The sounds of the zoo became muffled, but Liam could hear pounding feet so he assumed there was an ongoing panic.

 

Before he could black out completely, he felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him and prepare to lift him up.

 

“No, no,” he nearly howled while scrabbling for the blade in his side.

 

“Get it out,” he hissed.

 

Liam gasped as the blade was pulled free and his vision returned. Kara was leaning over him and cradling his head in her hands and looking down at him with fading panic.

 

“Hey, you ok? Sweet Rao, this is you trying not to die?” She said indignantly while scanning the rest of his body before looking around at the panicking crowd.

 

“Mom, Nina, Maggie?” He breathed out as his lung healed and he regained his strength.

 

“All fine,” she answered quickly. “But you were right about the press. Someone must have let them know we were here so I can’t just fly you away. It could blow-“

 

“All of our covers, I get it,” he answered nodding his understanding.

 

Kara looked at him uncertainly, before her eyes darted around the crowd.

 

“Do you need to…” he began, gesturing to the fleeing people.

 

“No,” she said shaking her head, before her eyes filled with concern.

 

She turned to Liam and gripped his shoulders.

 

“The police are here now, and they’re going to want to question you. People saw you sitting next to the victim. They’ll probably take you in.”

 

“Ahhh, shit. This is going to be bad.”

 

Kara eyed the approaching officers, and Liam began putting his hands behind his head.

 

“Go change and wait with Mom. I’d put my hand in the fire that Todd Peterson is going to turn up for a quote and it’s probably best you hold her back before two Luthor’s are implicated in murders today.”

 

* * *

 

Lena and Nina were waiting anxiously next to a police car when a normally dressed Kara appeared. Camera’s, which had begun flashing the second the journalists started to arrive, went nuts when the CEO pulled Kara into a quick embrace.

 

“Liam,” she whispered panicked into the blonde’s ear. “Is he...?”

 

“He’s fine Lena. Errr… physically.”

 

As they pulled away from each other, the camera’s began going wild as Liam was led out of the zoo entrance by two police officers. His eyes found their’s and he grimaced slightly.

 

“Oh my God,” Lena said seeing the state of his face and clothes. “Is that-“

 

“Bits of a person’s head? I’m pretty sure it is,” Maggie said grimly, appearing next to them in her NCPD jacket. The dimpled woman turned to face the group.

 

“We’re all going to be questioned. As with all things Liam, this is a shit show.”

 

The group didn’t reply but watched as the man in question was put in the back of a police car and driven off.

 

“Do we have any idea what happened this time? Or are we as clueless as ever?” Maggie asked.

 

Lena and Nina looked lost for words, but Kara replied fairly steadily.

 

“The victim was a Cadmus agent. She had a knife in his ribs, but I don’t know what transpired. But the shot was from a sniper and the building was commercial and even from a quick scan, it was full of workers. I wouldn’t be able to find them.”

 

“Well, hopefully, we can get something,” an approaching Alex in a dark FBI uniform said. The undercover DEO agents had already begun to swarm the scene.

 

The redhead turned to eye her wife with concern.

 

“You ok?”

 

Maggie smiled at her worried tone and nodded yes. Once Alex was reassured by them that they were all ok and was debriefed on the limited information they had, she took her phone out.

 

“Ok, well I’m going to see if I can speed up things at the station for Liam and get you guys out of answering any questions. He was obviously a witness, not the killer. But this mess,” she said gesturing to the still photographers and turning to Kara. “I don’t know how to help you with.”

 

The blonde groaned and started to rub her head. If Kryptonians could get headaches she would’ve had one for the last ten years. She was startled when a cool hand touched her forearm. Kara looked up and into Lena’s worried eyes.

 

“Are you ok?” Her ex-wife asked gently, and the blonde hero felt some of her tension drop.

 

She let out a soft sigh before replying gently.

 

“Are any of us? These last couple of weeks… scratch that, years have been… This whole decade. It’s just… No wait, it’s been my whole life actually. My whole life has been…. Stressful.”

 

Lena couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Kara’s oversimplification of the summary of their lives. She held a hand over her mouth instantly, but the blonde pulled it away gently and held it in her own.

 

Kara was slightly at a loss for words now but was caught up in the afterglow of hearing Lena’s laugh again that she didn’t overthink what she said next.

 

“Some things always made it worth it though,” she said with feeling, staring into the CEO’s eyes which had darkened slightly.

 

A cough broke them apart, and the pair turned to see Nina, Maggie and Alex staring at them with grossed out looks.

 

The detective was the first one to speak.

 

“Look as much as I ship it, can we possibly put a pin in it for now? We’ve got other pressing matters to handle if you didn’t notice already.”

 

Kara and Lena composed themselves and the blonde’s phone began to buzz in her pocket. While the other women made plans for the next steps they would take, the blue-eyed woman answered the recognisable number of her aged boss with trepidation.

 

“Hello, Miss Grant?”

 

“Yes”

 

“Yes”

 

“Right away Miss Grant.”

 

The blonde hung up the phone, to find Lena staring at her with a mix of determination and strength before glancing at the other media.

 

“Please tell me you can get ahead of this?”

 

Kara grimaced.

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

* * *

 

 

“KEIRA!” A loud voice practically screeched from the CEO’s office at CatCo the second Kara stepped off the elevator.

 

When Kara and Lena had become serious many years ago, the blonde had been angling for a promotion. To avoid favouritism and potential fallout of promoting her girlfriend, Lena had made the choice to step back from CatCo as CEO while still owning the company. Of course, once they got divorced Lena was put in an even more difficult position of owning the company her ex-wife worked at.

 

Her problems were solved when none other than an elderly (though no one in their right mind would call her that) Cat Grant offered to buy back her shares while also reappointing herself as CEO and editor in chief once more. Lena had been more than happy to agree, once impressed upon the importance of Cat’s legacy going to the right person.

 

And in Cat Grant’s mind, the right person was herself.

 

And after she thoroughly destroyed her few ageist critics on morning talk shows, Cat Grant had successfully quashed any disbelief in her continuing brilliance as the queen of all media.

 

Of course, she still continued to complain about Kara’s ‘millennial’ tendencies and mispronounce her name.

 

Loudly.

 

“KEIRA!” The CEO shouted again, and the blonde woman in question basically skidded to a halt inside her office.

 

“Yes, Ms Grant?”

 

“Where have you been?” Cat asked her with an exasperated tone while staring her down. “I called you two hours ago?”

 

“It was fifteen minutes, Ms Grant, and I came here as fast as I-“

 

“News moves fast, Keira, has your time here taught you nothing?” Cat replied cutting her off.

 

The CEO paused to stare at her prodigy, while Kara looked at the TV’s behind the newswoman’s desk all of which were playing Liam’s removal from the zoo on a loop. Cat sighed loudly before thumping her laptop closed and doing the unthinkable and turning the TV’s off.

 

Kara blinked at her boss’ shocking action, but the CEO merely pointed at the chair across from her.

 

“Sit.”

 

Not one to argue with the formidable woman, notwithstanding all the problems Kara currently had to deal with, she sat without a word while the grey-haired woman perused her over her glasses.

 

“Keira, I have been told I can be difficult. A cold bitch even. I prefer to inspire a healthy level of fear and respect in my employees, rather than have them feel that I’m relatable. But in you, I had thought I had found something of a kindred spirit. And I was under the impression that you viewed me as your mentor, and dare I say it, to an extent your confidant. Was I right in my assessment?”

 

The blonde feared where this conversation was going, but nodded her assent to the question.

 

“Good. So you might understand that I was slightly perturbed to see and hear that your son had turned up after ten years away, disappearing under mysterious circumstances, a week ago. I was even more aggrieved when I heard it on good authority that he now works in the L-Corp mailroom.And to put the cherry on top of my increasing befuddlement, you are seen entering the zoo of all places, with your ex-wife and son only to have someone shot dead with your son implicated in their murder.”

 

The older woman stood up and moved in front of Kara while leaning back on the desk with her arms crossed.

 

“So after learning all of this information, which perturbed me so, I sit down and begin to wonder what on earth is going on with my friend and why didn’t she feel she could tell me. But then, after my brief moment of humanity, I began to think about how my best journalist has just managed to get herself caught up in the worst media scandal in the history of this city. A girl who appears to not exist, according to my police source who just called, and was shot by a sniper while sitting next to your son. Liam, who was alone despite his family entering the zoo with him, is seen talking to Superwoman before allowing himself to be swept away by police. Superwoman had also earlier evacuated three women, one of them being your ex-wife, out of the Zoo to stand with the waiting media. The media had somehow been tipped off to the fact that you, your ex and your son were there so managed to get plenty of photos and recordings of your son being led out in cuffs. Meanwhile, Superwoman had left Liam alone and you suddenly appeared with the rest of your family. Am I missing anything”

 

Kara’s sense of doom began to balloon in her chest, as she realised how bad this was going to be. For Lena, for Liam, for Kia, for her. Not just as Luthors, but for their secret identities as well.

 

“So…” Cat continued, ignoring her protege’s panic. “I’ve had to take all this information and process it into the news. Luckily for me, my best journalist is also a key player and can give me a first hand expose on the new drama and woes of the Luthor family. I’m thinking son, returned from long travels comes home to reconnect with his estranged family. Divorced parents, decide to spend a day with him at the zoo. Then, just when the healing of a tragic family is commencing they are struck by even more senseless violence against their name when a madman decides to take a shot. Liam was spared the gunshot, but the girl he had been talking with while he waited for his parents to come back from the bathroom, was shot instead. Superwoman had been alerted of the threat and had just removed your ex-wife when the shot was fired. You were lost in the panic before you found your way outside. Now, am I missing anything?” Cat finished, asking with a raised eyebrow.

 

Kara at once felt a wave of gratitude and thanked the stars that Cat always had a way to handle the worst situations.

 

“No. That is exactly what happened.”

 

“Good,” Cat finished succinctly before turning and sitting behind her desk. “Then I suggest you make sure  _everyone_ remembers the details correctly,” she said simply while typing something quickly on her computer. Kara took this as her cue to leave and moved to stand when the CEO tutted.

 

“Sit.”

 

The blonde hovered before awkwardly lowering herself back into the chair and waited a few more minutes for the grey-haired woman to finish typing.

 

“Now,” Cat said her eyes turning back to the woman in front of her.

 

“Are you ok?”

 

The blonde woman gapped like a fish at her boss’ evident concern, before she composed herself.

 

“Why wouldn’t I be ok?”

 

Cat raised an eyebrow.

 

“Because you just came from the site of a shooting. A shooting that could have easily killed your son, whom you haven’t seen hide nor hair from in ten years after a contentious separation that you still won’t tell me about. But somehow, you were at the zoo with your ex-wife and said son today. Even I would have slightly confused emotions if it was happening to me. I don’t know if I could make it any more complicated.”

 

Kara thoughts drifted to Liam’s disappearance, the reason for it, Cadmus and her superhero identity.

 

You’d be surprised Ms Grant, she thought dryly.

 

The blonde sighed and her face contorted slightly before she felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion hit her right down to her bones.

 

“I don’t know what to do anymore, Cat. Everything is just wrong now. Nothing is the way it should be and I don’t even know if I did the right thing anymore. If I’m ever doing the right thing. I look at him and it’s just…. It was easier when he wasn’t here. I know that sounds terrible, but it was easier to lock it down inside then to deal with this. He’s done such horrible things. And I’m the only one who knows. Him and me. And I can’t tell anyone else. I can’t talk about it with anyone.”

 

Kara had started to cry during her speech and Cat nudged a box of tissues across the table without a word.

 

The blonde took a shuddering breath before she continued.

 

“I just feel so lost. Nobody understands. The only one who might is Lena, and I can’t talk about it with Lena because she doesn’t understand why I don’t just forgive him and that he doesn’t just forgive me. But it is so much more complicated than that. There is this toxicity between us, you can almost touch it. We probably know each other better than most people, but we look at each other like complete strangers. I look at my son, and I don’t know him.”

 

Kara took another chocked breath, before cradling her head in her hands while sobbing.

 

“And it kills me… because I still love him. I love him so much.”

 

There was a long silence from Cat, and the only sounds that filled the office were Kara’s sobs. Once her cries had diminished, the CEO finally began to speak.

 

“I’m not saying the circumstances are the same, but I’m no stranger to mother/son estrangement Keira. Maybe not the same extremes, but the distance between the two of you, I’ve felt that before myself.”

 

Cat stared at her for a few seconds.

 

“I don’t know the specifics, but it seems that the issues between you two are rather grave. But you are holding all these secrets to your chest, secrets about him. Horrible ones you said. But if this relationship is so bad, why are you keeping the truth about things he’s done from your friends, your family? What are you afraid of?”

 

The blonde’s breath evened out before she answered.

 

“How they’ll look at me for hiding it. And…..”

 

Cat finished the sentence.

 

“And you’re afraid how they’ll judge him for doing it.”

 

Kara grimaced and wiped away one of her last lingering tears.

 

“I don’t want to take him away from Lena. Or him from her. She’s loved him through everything, believed in him. What if this breaks that? Then it’ll ruin them both and I can’t do that because-“

 

“Because you love them. Both of them.”

 

Kara stared at her mentor, and all her words left her.

 

Cat was staring back at her just as hard before she spoke in a stern voice.

 

“What do you want Kara? What do YOU want? Do you want to have a relationship with your son? Because if that’s what you want, you have to fight for it. I’m not saying the issues between you will vanish, but you should work on them together. Not apart. And if you don’t want that, you need to distance yourself and do it now. Because this in-betweening is doing nothing for you,” Cat said finishing sarcastically while gesturing to the blonde’s tear-streaked face making Kara laugh.

 

“And no,” The fearsome CEO continued sternly. “You don’t get to leave this office until you make a choice. Because right now you have a son who, whether he likes it or not, could use you in his corner. Make a choice if you want to be there,” Cat said finishing before she returned to her work and turned the TV's back on.

 

Images of Liam were still on the news but were now replaced with family photo’s of them all smiling. They transformed to grainy shots of Liam entering the L-Corp building, and there was even a selfie where the dark-haired man bore a strained grin with an L-Corp employee.

 

Kara had to applaud Cat’s ability to change the narrative. Now the news was about the horror that happened to the Luthor family, not the ones they had instigated.

 

An image of a younger Kara and Lena at a gala came up next, and the blonde took a sharp breath at the sight of her beautiful ex-wife’s photo.

 

It was again replaced by a photo of just Kara and Liam and she stared hard at all their smiling faces.

 

Real smiles. Real happiness. Kara had that exact photo at home, in a hidden album.

 

The images finally changed to live footage of Liam leaving the station, escorted by Lena. They both entered the back of the town car and drove off.

 

Liam certainly hadn’t been followed by luck since he had arrived back on earth, that was for sure. His first birthday back with his family and most of them didn’t like him. And then a Cadmus attacks after being forced to spend time with a woman he thought ruined his life.

 

The blonde’s thoughts turned gloomy, before a spark of an idea formed in her brain.

 

She stood up from her chair and Cat barely gave her a cursory glance.

 

“Go,” she said gesturing to the door. “I have work to do.”

 

“You don’t even want to know my decision?” Kara asked her boss curiously.

 

Cat eyed her from over her glasses.

 

“I’m assuming, it’s the right one Keira.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah, I feel awful. I'm dangling all these plot threads like mad and giving you all new questions, but I promise there is a method to my madness. Anyway, hoped you liked the first slighty Kara centric chapter! Let me know below :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok people, sorry for the slightly delayed update. I'm not going to lie, I was binge-watching season two of Jessica Jones. Gave me a fair bit of inspiration for this fic though, so I'll just say it I was researching ;) Btw, heaps of dialogue in this chapter. Woah, and I almost forgot, thank you to everyone reading! I reached 400 kudos on my last chapter, which is huge for me, so thank you for reading, commenting and kudos :) The support is super awesome for me!

Liam had officially placed the last two weeks as the most irritating of his life. 

 

At least he would never be a person who would call their life boring. He doubted many other people could say that they were a member of such a… diverse family, to start with. Then came the normal issues, like reappearing after ten years away after being set up for a bombing.

 

Then becoming a bounty hunter.

 

Then getting kind-of arrested, only to get the world's weirdest parole. 

 

Which involved working in the mailroom.

 

Oh, and apparently the xenophobic terrorist organisation that framed him was now sending agents to look for him.

 

Though the dark-haired man now had his doubts about whether these ‘agents’ were actually Cadmus at all.

 

Still, the cherry on top had to be the pieces of a person’s head being splattered into his open mouth. Though come to think of it he might have actually swallowed worse liquids in his life.

 

And now it seemed he was in the centre of a media storm if the presence of journalists outside of the police station his mother sprung him from were any indication.

 

They both slid into the back of the town car and sighed in unison when the shouting of journalists became muffled with the closing of the door. They sat silently until the car began to drive off.

 

“Shit just became a whole lot more complicated, didn’t it?” Liam asked wearily. 

 

Lena gave her son an exhausted look before her eyes steeled.

 

“Well, we weren’t hiding your return. Everyone in the L-Corp building would have known by now.” 

 

The dark haired man grimaced.

 

“Yes,”he began dryly. “And that would explain the media getting tipped off. No doubt the paparazzi would have been following to see if there was proof in the pudding. But I highly doubted you envisioned my first debut in public to be me, walking out of the zoo, splattered in the remains of a woman’s head.”

 

Lena eyed her son steadily.

 

“If you don’t get escorted out by the police in front of the press at least once in your life, I would be worried that you weren’t a Luthor.”

 

The green-eyed man let out a deep laugh, before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

 

“Don’t worry Mom. If you forget, the world will be sure to remind you.”

 

The CEO hummed in her seat, but her thoughts drifted to dark places. Memories of her brother and mother. And the crimes they committed. Her eyes turned to rest on her son, and her tension mounted.

 

It would be easy for the media to crucify her son. He looked so much like Lex when they were the same age, and for the first time since Liam had arrived back in her life, Lena was certainly glad for his beard and hair grooming habits. The CEO was fairly certain there would be no homeless photos of her brother to compare him too, so he might be safe there.

 

But still… The arrogance, the mannerisms, the intelligence…. and when he was in the right mood, even the charm. That all screamed Lex Luthor.

 

Her dark-haired boy suddenly began to snore, and Lena’s brooding thoughts were broken, and she was stuck with an image of Kara in the same position.

 

Liam’s name may be Luthor, and maybe that’s all the world would ever see. But he was raised by the kindest, most honest and selfless person Lena had ever known.

 

Kara may not have been his biological mother, but she gave him her heart.

 

Plus her eating habits, and her ability to fall asleep anywhere apparently. 

 

The twenty-eight-year-old snuffled awake as the town car turned to drive into the underground garage of their apartment building. The paparazzi were crowded outside, and the flashes of the cameras irritated Liam’s eyes even through the tinted windows.

 

“Dear Lord,” he muttered as the car parked. “Don’t these idiots have anything better to do?”

 

Lena tilted her head while grimacing, and the bearded man waved her off.

 

“I know, I know…. stupid question.”

 

The trip up to the penthouse was quiet again and the pair of them could practically feel the exhaustion coming from the other.

 

“Well,” Lena began as they exited onto her floor. “It’s been a long day, so how about we get some rest and organise to talk about all this-“

 

Liam groaned, cutting his mother off.

 

“Too late Mom,” he replied before pushing the door open to reveal a full apartment. 

 

In fact, Lena was convinced this was the most number of people she had ever had in her place. Nina was there, obviously, but so were Alex and Maggie which surprised Lena greatly. Both of the married them were on their phones, talking to people and pacing around the room. Carter was also here for some reason, and he was also intently speaking on the phone in between shooting his little sister glares as she sat slumped on the couch looking completely dejected. 

 

“What is going on in here?” The CEO asked with confusion and a hint of irritation at the intrusion of her space. When nobody replied, all continuing with their phone calls, she turned to Nina for answers.

 

The young woman simply shrugged, with a lost look on her face. Liam let out another groan, before moving to collapse on the couch himself and putting a cushion over his head.

 

“Wake me up, if something important happens, he said muffled through the throw pillow.

 

Lena let out a sigh of her own before she marched towards the nearest person on the phone, who happened to be Maggie. The CEO opened her mouth to speak, but the detective placed a finger over her lips to keep her quiet, the gesture making a nerve in Lena’s cheek twitch in annoyance.

 

“And you can’t tell me anything else?” Maggie said, continuing to talk into her mobile. 

 

Whatever the other person said next made the detective roll her eyes.

 

“No Eugene, I wasn’t expecting much in the ways of dental records. You know, seeing AS HER HEAD EXPLODED!?”

 

The person on the other end of the line must have been properly chastised because Maggie smiled.

 

“Good. Call me if you find anything. Call me _first_ , Eugene.”

 

The dimpled woman hung up the phone and turned to face Lena.

 

“What are you all doing here?” Lena asked with exasperation in her voice.

 

“We needed a base of operations,” Maggie replied simply as if that explained anything at all. 

 

The CEO’s look of frustration grew.

 

“And my apartment is better than the clandestine government base why?” She asked, her voice layered with annoyance. 

 

Maggie just shrugged her shoulders.

 

“I don’t know. I just followed Alex when she said we were coming here.”

 

The green-eyed woman rubbed her eyes.

 

“Look. We’ve all had a very, very long day. I just want to call my daughter to tell her what’s happening, and then go to bed myself. Surely we can talk about this all tomorrow.”

 

“Actually, it would be a far better idea to get a tackle on it tonight,” Alex interjected, approaching the pair after hanging up her own phone.

 

“I don’t want to waste a second to let this trail go cold. They’ve already had a ten-year head start, let's not give them anymore.”

 

The CEO huffed and rubbed circles on the sides of her head.

 

“Fine. But again, why does it have to be here?”

 

The redhead grimaced and glanced over at the now snoring Liam and Nina on the couch.

 

“God, I miss the days where I could fall asleep anywhere,” she said before turning back to face Lena.

 

“Look, the eyes of the world are on Liam right now. We can’t have him shuffling in and out of here continuously otherwise someone is going to connect the dots. So, for now, it makes far more sense for us 'concerned family members' to come here and check up on him. That, and he needs to be debriefed again.”

 

Lena sighed again heavily before she nodded her assent.

 

“Fine. Excuse me, I have to call Kia,” she said curtly before pulling her own phone out and stalking to a corner of her own to talk in.

 

Maggie and Alex exchanged looks before the detective walked over to the couch and shook Liam awake.

 

“Hey there Tree. How are you holding up?” 

 

Liam yawned pointedly, before sitting up and stretching his back.

 

“Is it weird that I can still taste the blood in my mouth? I must have rinsed it out a hundred times.”

 

Alex's mouth twisted slightly in disgust, but the corner of Maggie's lifted in response to Liam’s dark humour. She clapped a hand on his shoulder.

 

“You’ll be ok Tree.”

 

Liam glared up at his aunt.

 

“Don’t think because I’ve got bits of hair and marrow in my teeth, that I’m not pissed at you for the stunt you pulled.”

 

Maggie’s eyebrow twitched before she cocked her head.

 

“Oh? And what would that be?”

 

The dark-haired man scowled at her and opened his mouth to start yelling before glancing at the still snoring Nina beside him.

 

“You know full well,” he said in a soft tone instead. “The crap about inviting Kara to the fucking zoo. And then making us hang out together like pals. What the fuck was that? A weird attempt at forced bonding?”

 

Maggie shrugged her shoulders, while Alex hovered awkwardly, but didn’t otherwise respond causing Liam’s irritation to rise.

 

“Why do all of you stick your nose in things that don’t concern you? The shit between Kara and me is none of your fucking business.”

 

The detective tilted her head.

 

“I would disagree with that statement wholeheartedly, as you well know. You’re my nephew, and I love you Tree. But you are still a raging and moronic idiot if you think that you and your Mama aren’t my business.”

 

Maggie sighed heavily, before tugging Liam away from the couch and into the corridor towards the bathroom. 

 

“I lost a family once kid. They rejected me, over something that I had no control over and sure as shit didn’t make me a bad person. And so when I was an adult, it was just me. All alone.” 

 

The dimpled woman frowned at the memory before she smiled and looked at Alex who was still hovering in the living room and pretending not to look in their direction.

 

“And then I met your crazy, badass aunt over there and everything changed. I didn’t just get her when we got into a relationship, I got all this,” Maggie continued, waving her hand over the busy people gathered in the room. “All this crazy, insane package.”

 

The brunette turned back to face the silent man and grabbed his chin.

 

“I got a whole new family. A family that loves and fights hard. We deal with shit that the majority of people don’t even understand. And you Mom over there,” she said gesturing towards Lena. “Has dealt with more shit then most people could survive.”

 

Maggie let out a heavy sigh.

 

“But so has your Mama. Now, I’m not trying to diminish your own pain and experiences, lord knows the world is bad enough without everyone running around comparing who had the worst shit happen to them. I will say, however, that it’s easy to get so blinded by our own agony that we forget that others have there’s.”

 

The brunette woman stared into Liam’s eyes.

 

“Your mama is in pain now Liam. She has been for years. It was different when she was your age, Liam,” Maggie continued, smiling at the memory. 

 

“She was so happy. Completely, annoyingly, optimistic. And never doubting the innate goodness of people. Your mom and her… it was like watching the world’s sappiest romantic comedy. They had both been through so much, but they had found each other. And just like Alex did with me, Kara brought Lena into this whole new family.”

 

“And their whole worlds revolved around Kia and you when you both came along. Just like the rest of us original squad when we had kids. Our family just got larger, and crazier and more fucking beautiful. No one was perfect obviously, but when the chips were down and when shit hit the fan, everyone was there for each other.”

 

Maggie’s face became sad.

 

“But even all this amazing family, couldn’t help you when you fell through the cracks. We fucked up Liam. I fucked up. I should have seen what was going on with you, so much sooner… But I didn’t, and by the time I did you were being hauled off to prison and I was told they thought you had blown up a building. But you leaving Liam, it did something to all of us. It was like all that we knew, this general happiness in the family was a facade that finally cracked. We all drifted, and we were all in pain.”

 

The detective’s eyes filled with pain.

 

“Sometimes, when you’ve lost as much as we had before you kids came along. When you finally find your people, and you all fit, it’s easy to get swept up in the happiness of it all. Because we had problems, and we learnt from them, we swore our kids would always be safe and happy. And when you weren’t…. we just wished harder for you to be.”

 

Maggie let out a deep sigh, before drawing a hand through her hair.

 

“I’m not trying to preach to you, Liam. I don’t want to be that person who lectures you on your behaviour. And tells you others have it far worse, or that you should think about other peoples pain more. Frankly, the majority of people who run around telling each other to put other people’s feelings ahead of their own, are self-absorbed pricks. Your pain and anger aren’t invalid. But your parents and the rest of us are also hurting Liam. And your Mama….. That woman that I knew, the one who could laugh at anything, tripped over her own feet and looked at you, Kia and your Mom like you hung the moon. That person was dead. And it didn’t happen the day you were jailed or the day you disappeared. It didn’t even happen the day Kara turned up on Alex and my doorstep, looking for a couch to sleep on after she moved out. But in these last ten years…. That woman did die.”

 

The detective’s eyes linger again on her wife and then turned to glance at Lena before looking back at the still silent Liam.

 

“But…. ever since you came back, it’s like a part of her has come alive again. I know its an angry, painful, rage-filled part but at least it’s an emotion! She isn’t flying and walking around like a zombie anymore, frankly, the only reason she was still doing that was because she had Kia. She isn’t numbing herself anymore. And I’m sorry Tree because I love you to ends of the earth, but I love your Mama too. I consider her my sister, and I can’t bear to see my sister finally feel again and not do something when the person that has brought her back to life is standing right in front of me.”

 

Liam stared down at his aunt in silence before he spoke softly.

 

“You just don’t get it, Maggie. There are things between us, painful things. That can never be forgiven. And then the last ten years… You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

 

Maggie gave him a wry smile.

 

“All due respect Tree. You don’t know what we’ve been through either, but you were the one who wants to foster trust. And the way to do that is for everyone to start talking to each other again.”

 

Liam scowled at his aunt.

 

“When will you get it? It’s not my responsibility to make her happy, ok? It’s not my job or my duty. If she was numb for years and has, in your eyes, now magically come alive again it’s not my job to help, ok?”

 

The dimpled woman gave him an appraising look.

 

“Do you think that Kara is a bad person?” She asked directly.

 

Liam gapped for a minute, thinking he must have misheard.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

Maggie repeated herself, but slower.

 

“Do you think, that Kara is a bad person?”

 

The dark-haired man’s thoughts simultaneously went blank and kicked into overdrive. He felt a wave of rage and betrayal climb in him, as well as a lingering sense of loss.

 

“No,” he said in a soft voice. “I don’t think she’s a bad person _fundamentally_.”

 

The detective nodded.

 

“But you think she’s done bad things?”

 

Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“She’s not an angel auntie. Of course, she’s done bad things. She just wants the rest of us mortals to believe that she can do no wrong. Self-righteous bullshit.”

 

The detective quirked an eyebrow.

 

“Is that what you really think? You believe that Kara thinks everything she does is right?”

 

Liam was growing irritated fast.

 

“Look. I’ve had an extremely long day, but even if it hadn't I would still have no desire to talk about her with anyone, including you. I don’t need some pseudo-psych assessment to deal with my ‘mommy’ issues, ok? All my life here, it revolved around other people's needs. Their wishes. Fucking superpower Kryptonian bullshit, or genius billionaires on the edge of the next big scientific breakthrough. And what was I in the scheme of things? A sickly kid, who wasn’t a Kryptonian and couldn’t do the math to save his life. I was the black sheep, and I felt alone. And I couldn’t tell anyone about that because everyone in this family is all so amazing. You’re all heroes, whether with powers of brains of fucking nerve! And me… I should just have felt lucky to rub shoulders and be born into a world like that. Because how many people could say one of their mothers was a billionaire genius, and the other was fucking Supergirl. Once I wasn’t sick anymore, that was it. I’d used up all of my allowances to be unhappy with my life. Nobody was going to take anything else I was pissed off about seriously because I should just be counting my stars that I was alive at all. I don’t know if Kara thinks everything she does is right, but I damn well do know that she doesn’t think that anything I do ever will be.”

 

Liam finished his rant, and his shoulders were shaking with stress. It was only when his breathing had evened out that he realised the noises from the rest of the apartment had ceased and he turned to realise they had an audience. Nina, who had woken up, his mom, Carter and Alex were in the living room staring at him. But sometime during his conversation with Maggie, Kia had turned up. 

 

As had Kara.

 

Nina and Carter, after shooting him glances, quickly got caught up in a conversation of their own that was looking to become heated. Alex wavered hesitant, before turning to make another call. But Lena, Kia and Kara simply stared at him.

 

Maggie coughed awkwardly, before walking over to Kara and giving her a nudge.

 

“Hey, Little Danvers. Luthor. I need to talk with you and Alex about the shooting for a bit.”

 

After the detective had dragged the blonde hero and the CEO to Alex’s assigned corner, Kia approached Liam. The bearded man instantly tensed, stressed already that he had allowed his stewing frustration to boil over out loud at all, let alone in front of them. He braced himself and shot his sister a challenging glare.

 

Kia didn’t return it, however, and simply stared at him quietly.

 

“You ok?” She asked gruffly, taking Liam by surprise.

 

He nodded in response, and his sister let out a sigh of her own.

 

“Seriously, you had a woman’s head explode all over your face. Are you actually ok?”

 

Liam hesitated, and a flash of suspicion at his sister’s intentions flashed through his mind before fading away. Kia continued staring at him before he finally let go of his answer.

 

“I’ve been through worse,” he replied with a deep heaviness that Kia picked up on.

 

Her own demons flashed through her eyes, and she let out a heavy sigh before she frowned into the distance.

 

“Life’s pretty shit,” she said in response and with a slight waver in her voice. 

 

For the first time since he’d arrived back on Earth, Liam really looked at his sister. The dejection in her shoulders, and the weariness in her eyes. Eyes that had seen death. A person who, like him, seemed to have lost a piece of her soul along the way. A rush of affection grew in him, and another feeling he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in years came with it. 

 

Regret.

 

Liam hesitated before he held out his hand. Kia looked at it confused, before turning to Liam with a question in her eyes.

 

He shrugged.

 

“I don’t know where we’re at with displays of affection, or condolences or any of that shit… So I thought maybe a handshake…?” He finished, trailing off.

 

Kia looked back down at his hand, but before he allowed it to drop she took it in her own and gave it a brief squeeze. Afterwards, they stood awkwardly for a few seconds before the older sibling spoke in a brisk tone.

 

“Your phone. Give it to me.”

 

Liam raised his eyebrows, but nonetheless handed over the device and watched as Kia typed quickly before handing it back.

 

“Here,” she said holding it out. “My number’s in it now. Just in case.”

 

The dark-haired man stared at her for a few seconds slightly shocked, before pocketing the phone. But before he could respond, however, Kia had already turned to leave the apartment. 

 

He stood there blinking for a few seconds before Lena approached him with a worried look.

 

“Darling, are you-“

 

“If its ok with you Liam,” a quiet voice interjected. “Could I have a word?”

 

The dark-haired man turned to see Kara standing next to them with a strange expression on her face. Liam blinked at her, and a strong part of him urged to say no but he felt his CEO mother’s eyes burning into the side of his head.

 

Liam gritted his teeth, and his migraine grew larger.

 

“Sure. Why the hell not.”

 

Kara shuffled awkwardly while Lena walked away again leaving the superhero and Liam standing by themselves. The blonde went to speak but stopped as her eyes drifted to the people in the living room who were pretending not to listen.

 

“Do you think we could speak somewhere alone?” She asked, pointedly looking at the eavesdropping Nina who blushed scarlet.

 

Liam resisted the urge to say no, just to be contrary, but he figured whatever the conversation that was about to occur entailed, he didn’t want to be overheard either.

 

The dark-haired man nodded, before walking the blonde into his mother’s bedroom and closing the door behind them. 

 

Kara’s attention seemed to drift when they entered, and her eyes glanced around the room. She walked over to the nightstand to gaze at the framed photo on it. A picture of her and Lena, holding Kia and a baby Liam in their arms. Her fingers hovered over the frame, before placing it back down and inspecting the rest of the room.

 

“I see your Mom’s OCD has returned in full force since we broke up. I bet all her clothes are alphabetised again,” she said with a fond smile.

 

Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“Look, are you going to say whatever you have to say? Or are we just here so you can waltz down memory lane?”

 

Kara’s eyes flashed briefly, and her face became neutral.

 

“Are you ok?” She asked gently, and Liam resisted the urge to stomp out of the room like a child.

 

“Oh for fuck's sake, I’m fine. And if I’m not fucking fine, I will be. You know for a fact from our little ‘chat’, that I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse, and done a fucking lot worse. I don’t know what this is, but if you’ve come here-“

 

The blonde held up her hand, to cut him off.

 

“Look… I don’t know why I’ve come here either. Well, I do, but…. I don’t,” she said awkwardly before huffing at her shoes. 

 

“Oh Rao, I sound like an idiot… What I meant to say was…. Look, I talked to Cat today. After the zoo, to help smooth things over with the media, which she thankfully did. Anyway, your name came up obviously, and she helped me get… a little perspective.”

 

Liam scowled at the blonde.

 

“I don’t want anything from you, least of all your perspective Kara.”

 

At the sound of her name, the blonde flinched slightly and Liam felt a pang of… something that he quickly shoved down.

 

“I want to have a relationship with you Liam,” Kara blurted out, biting the bullet.

 

Liam’s jaw dropped before he released a slightly hysterical laugh.

 

“You’re kidding, right? Is this a joke? Or are you trying to stay close to 'know my enemy' and all that shit? Well, fuck you either way. You think you can get to where we are, this poisonous shit between us, and just ask for a God damn relationship? What, suddenly we go from despising the sight of each other to nightly phone calls and brunches? What the hell is wrong with you!”

 

Kara stared at him silently and allowed no emotion to cross her face until he finished speaking.

 

“I’m not saying, that it wouldn’t take a lot of work-“

 

“Like what? Getting our fucking brain’s erased maybe. Yeah, then I can see us having mother-son chats around tea,” he interjected sarcastically.

 

The blonde frowned at him and opened her mouth to speak before she stopped herself and took a deep and shouldering breath. She sat down on the edge of the bed and placed her head in her hands.

 

Liam’s thoughts fluttered from angry to angrier before he heard the sound of soft tears falling, and he looked at the slumped figure with alarm and confusion. He hovered briefly and considered either berating the blonde woman or fleeing from the room when Kara spoke.

 

“I remember the moment, the second, I first heard your heartbeat, Liam. I was flying over the city, my ears vaguely tuned into your mother’s movements at her office, when underneath her solid beat I heard this slight flutter. I almost fell from the sky because I thought she was going to have a heart attack. It was only when I got there that I realised what was happening.”

 

Kara turned her wet eyes from the ground to look at Liam.

 

“With your sister, I could never quite pick it up. The Kryptonian biology element I’m guessing. The amniotic sack muffled it a lot so it never sounded normal to me. But yours… it was just so clear. And it was in that moment, I fell completely in love with you. I’ve never cared that you were or weren’t biologically mine Liam. You’re my son. And… I guess that’s why it hurt so much when what happened, happened. Because I felt it so deep… because I love you that deep. I shut down. It’s not an excuse, and I don’t think it was right, but it’s what I did.”

 

The blonde stood, and walked over to the still man and looked into his eyes.

 

“I know I can’t change the past. Your’s or mine. But I am in control of what my actions will be going forward. And I’m sorry if you don’t care to hear it and I am sorry if this is putting a burden or an obligation on you, but I need you to hear it. I love you. You are my son, and I love you. You've done bad things, and I can’t forgive that entirely, but it still doesn’t change that I love you. If you hate me and never want to see or speak to me again and if you hate me and wish me dead, it won’t change anything for me. Because I will still love you until the day I die.”

 

The pair stared at each other, before a muscle twitched in Liam’s jaw and an involuntary tear crept out of the corner of his eye.

 

“I think you should leave,” he said in a wavering voice.

 

Kara nodded sadly, before she turned to exit the room. At the door she stopped and pulled something out of her pocket and placed it on the dresser 

 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t acknowledge your birthday, I’m sorry about all the one’s I missed. But I have something for you, I’ve had it for a long time. I gave it to someone once but after a while they were kind enough to give it back. It has a lot of meaning behind it. But if you don’t want it, that’s fine. I suppose it’s more for me anyway… But I told Kia already, and she said it was ok with her,” she finished drifting off quietly.

 

Liam didn’t look from his focus on the wall until the blonde had closed the door gently behind her. He was swimming with emotion and a part of him felt like crushing whatever the blonde had left him without looking at it. But in the end, his eyes zeroed in on the object.

 

And he just stared.

 

He started forward and picked up the gift softly before collapsing against the bedroom door and unleashing his restrained tears.

 

The necklace his grandmother had given Kara when she left a dying Krypton, clutched tightly in his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did we all think? I'd just like to reiterate, that by no means is character development, for basically all the characters, over. We still have a long, longggggg way to go so bear with me. No one is perfect, and they've all done shit. But, they're also all still hurting. On the plus side, slowly people are starting to reach out and think about their behaviour. Also, I realise that it's all a bit emotionally jumbling to read because you guys don't know all the facts, like me... but I won't apologise because I'm basically evil :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. I hope you all enjoy! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below :)

The dark-haired man was steadily pummelling a car into a warped steel ball while the two women watched on through the viewing glass. The man suddenly kicked the car with such force, that it skidded and hit the opposite wall with a bang that sent vibrations through the reinforced window.

 

Maggie raised an eyebrow.

 

“Probably field ready, don’t you think?” She asked her wife wryly as the pair watched Liam pick up the flattened vehicle and fling it to another corner of the room with a yell.

 

Alex’s mouth pursed and her brow furrowed.

 

“He’s too emotional.”

 

Another booming punch.

 

“So he’s got a temper,” Maggie replied with an optimistic tone.

 

The redhead began to scowl and she crossed her arms.

 

“He’s going to get himself, or someone else killed.”

 

The detective sighed before turning her back to the window and faced the other woman.

 

“Come on. He just needs guidance. Disregarding that he’s at the centre of this whole mess, we need to give him a chance. He’s a good person Danvers, he just needs help to prove it.”

 

“Just because the group voted to trust him, doesn’t mean he’s a good person Mags. He’s been here for weeks now, and all we have is more questions. Kara hours in a room with him, and she won't tell anyone what was said. Let's be real here. The only reason the deciding vote swayed in his favour, is because we were putting our faith in her, not him.”

 

Maggie hummed but shook her head slightly.

 

“I know you think it’s my sentiment talking. Everyone wanted to run around picking a side when he first came back. I love you Alex, but your inability to understand that life isn’t black or white has always been your downfall. You’re right about the secrets. It's pissing me off that I don’t have all the facts. I’m a detective, trust me, I like hard cold facts. But until I get more, I have to function on the information we have. And none of the facts at the moment, point to Liam being evil. He was just a fucked up kid, who got in way over his head. And now he’s been off for ten years. We don’t know what happened in that time, but I highly doubt he was running around space furthering Cadmus’ agenda. He ran away. From us and from Cadmus. But now he’s back, and he’s offered to help us. And frankly,” she said turning and pointing to the aggressive man in the training room who had started punching a new car.

 

“He seems pretty keen to start.”

 

Alex hummed as well, but her face was still clouded with disbelief.

 

“I’m pretty sure at the moment he’d easily hit us instead of them.”

 

Maggie conceded the point.

 

“Well, I’ll admit since the zoo shooting he’s been pissed off. Fuck it, let's be honest. It’s since he and Kara had another 'little chat' in Lena's apartment. I suppose it doesn’t help that he’s swarmed by reporters the second he leaves his home.”

 

The redhead was aware. The last few weeks had involved Liam spending the majority of his time at the DEO, training and hoping to avoid the press. His frustration with the situation seemed to be increasing every day.

 

Another bang sounded as the car folded in on itself.

 

“Well,” Alex said reluctantly. “We can’t deny that he can pack a punch.”

 

Maggie laughed.

 

"You're just jealous."

 

Their conversation was interrupted by an alert that drew the pair's attention.

 

“Well,” Alex said ready to press the intercom to the training room. “This should be interesting.”

 

Liam’s punching rhythm was broken by the electronic sound of his aunt’s voice ringing out through the speakers.

 

“Wrap it up, Liam,”

 

The dark-haired man gave the car a particularly violent backhand swing.

 

“When I’m done,” he growled.

 

Inside the observation room, Maggie rolled her eyes and Alex scowled.

 

“God he’s an annoying shit,” she muttered.

 

The detective gave her the side eye and smirked.

 

“Pretty sure he got that from you,” she replied.

 

Maggie turned to press the intercom while her wife spluttered.

 

“Liam, your friend Gurtag is here.”

 

He stopped his activity and went to wipe his face down.

 

“Did he bring my stuff?”

 

“They’re going through it now,” Maggie replied.

 

Liam nodded, picked up his stuff and exited the room.

 

The Latina woman grinned at her wife.

 

“See?” Maggie said with a large smile. “It’s all about how you say these things.”

 

Alex rolled her eyes before stalking out of the room to intercept her nephew.

 

“It’s only because he likes you.”

 

* * *

 

_Liam walked into the darkened club. The music was throbbing through the walls and the fluorescent type lights flickered coloured forms over the writhing bodies on the dance floor. The dark-haired man looked around the packed room, before walking over to the bar and taking a seat. He struggled to be heard over the roar of the crowd but managed to grab the attention of one of the bartenders and shouted his drink order. The man looked him up and down sceptically, but none the less poured the almost poisonous dosage of alcohol._

 

_“Sure you know what you’re getting into here. A kid like you should have stayed at home.”_

 

_The young man scowled and swiped the drink away from the bar after tossing the required credits down._

 

_“Just tell me where he is.”_

 

_The barman shrugged dismissively but pointed in the direction of the darkened booth. Liam stood and carried his drink over, only to be stopped by a pair of aliens standing guard._

 

_“Move along toothpick.”_

 

_Liam went to open his mouth, but a deep chuckle resounded from the large form sitting at the table, shrouded in shadows._

 

_“It’s ok boys, can’t you see? He’s here for work.”_

 

_The alien gripping he shoulder let him go and all but shoved him in the direction of the table. Liam struggled not to spill the acidic drink, and gently placed it in the middle of the table before taking a seat across from the laughing figure._

 

_A large white claw-like hand reached forward, took the drink and knocked it back with a sigh. The martian leaned forward and Liam could see him clearly for the first time. He couldn’t help but feel slightly sick at the sight of the gruesome-looking face staring down at him._

 

_“So, little boy, I hear you’ve been asking questions about me?”_

 

_Liam gulped but steeled his spine._

 

_“I heard you gave good information on bounties.”_

 

_The martian stared at him appraisingly._

 

_“I’ve heard of you human. Husk picked you up on Terra and you’ve been running errands ever since. What makes you think you’ve got what it takes to hunt.”_

 

_Liam scowled._

 

_“I haven’t been cleaning Husk’s shoes while he made me work off my debt. Every inch of my freedom was won with guns and blood. Now that I’m free, it’s all I know. And I’m good at it.”_

 

_The martian continued staring and began to drag his claws along the tabletop, making the metal screech._

 

_“A just-released indentured… you’ll have no capital. How are you going to pay for your gear? For a ship?”_

 

_Liam tilted his head._

 

_“Well, l I was hoping you would help out with that.”_

 

_The martian let out a roar of laughter, pounding the table which made the metal concave slightly._

 

_“I’ll give you your due human, you’ve got guts. Any information I give, I want thirty percent commission from the job. You’ve given me nothing yet, but you still want me to loan you credits? You must be out of your mind.”_

 

_The green-eyed man stared down at his fingers briefly and gathered his thoughts before responding._

 

_“Consider it an investment. You do this for me, I’ll give you fifty percent per job.”_

 

_The martian paused._

 

_“Eighty.”_

 

_Liam held up his hands._

 

_“Hey man, I’ve still gotta eat.”_

 

_The martian quirked his head, before gesturing to his guards to remove the man from the booth._

 

_“Not my problem.”_

 

_“Hey!” Liam called out before he could be taken away. “I’ll give you sixty, and I’ll only take the highest paying jobs. You’ll get a bigger return.”_

 

_The martian held his hand up, to stop his men. He locked his eyes with the human man._

 

_“You got a death wish greenhorn? Being cocky will just get you killed.”_

 

_Liam shook his head._

 

_“I’m not cocky. I’m confident. Look, you do this and I’ll make you more money than any other hunter that comes to you for information. I swear it.”_

 

_The white-skinned alien sat in contemplation for a few minutes._

 

_“I don’t know you human and I don’t trust you.”_

 

_Liam’s face fell in slight defeat as the martian stood up._

 

_“I expect everything I lend you back in six months. Plus interest AND the commission you owe me.”_

 

_The dark-haired man’s face grew into a smile._

 

_“That I can do. My name’s Liam, by the way.”_

 

_The marital gave what Liam assumed, was his version of a grin in return._

 

_“You can call me Gurtag.”_

 

* * *

 

Liam and his aunts walked into the main hub of the DEO to find a ring of nervous looking agents standing in a semi-circle around an imposing White Martian. The martian himself looked quite relaxed and threw his hands into the air with enthusiasm when he spotted the dark-haired man.

 

_“Liam!”_ he called out in his native tongue, his face splitting into a smile that made fingers twitch on the triggers of guns.

 

The bearded man’s body relaxed as he slipped into an easy grin of his own. He pushed past the agitated agents and greeted his friend with a pat on the back. Gurtag returned the gesture with enough force to make Liam wince, making the martian laugh.

 

“ _When I didn’t hear back from you after the job, I thought you must have disappeared into another black hole looking for booze. I would never have guessed you’d decided to move back home. Becoming soft on me, are you?”_

 

Liam grimaced and stretched his back before responding.

 

_“Didn’t really have much of choice in my relocation back here Gurtag. I was between a rock and a hard place. And this hard place isn’t my home.”_

 

Gurtag waved his words away.

 

_“Sure, sure. You’ve always been a right pain in the arse, but at least now you seem to fit in. Amongst all your fellow squishy things. Besides, this rock is as much your home as Mars is mine.”_

 

The dark-haired man clouded in anger.

 

_“So you brought my shit then?”_

 

Gurtag bared his teeth in amusement at Liam’s tone.

 

_“Yeah. All that I could. By the time I got there, they were already trying to confiscate your apartment back for unpaid rent. I told them they could keep all the credits they found as long as they gave me the rest back.”_

 

Liam nodded.

 

_“That’s fine. It’s not like I can use credits here anyway.”_

 

The marital looked around the room, appraisingly.

 

_“How long are you planning on staying here then?”_

 

_“Indefinitely,”_ a low voice growled out.

 

Liam and Gurtag turned to see a scowling J’onn stride into the room while glaring up at the white martian.

 

_“I would suggest if you don’t want a bullet in your head, that you speak in a language everyone in the room can understand. Unless you want them to think you’re plotting against us.”_

 

Gurtag titled his head slightly before a red glow ran over his form and he shapeshifted into a twenty-something African-American man. He gave J’onn a toothy grin before rotating and inspecting himself.

 

“It's good that I can look like one of you squishy things as well then, no? It wasn’t my intention to frighten humans. I come in peace, after all.”

 

Liam snorted.

 

“Cut the shit Gurtag. It’s always your intention to frighten people.”

 

The martian grinned in reply.

 

“True, but it is my nature.”

 

“We are well aware of your nature,” J’onn said darkly.

 

Gurtag gave him a curious look.

 

“You seem to be very hostile to me for some reason human. I can not figure out why. Your mind is…. guarded.”

 

 

J’onn’s lips curled into a snarl before he phased quickly from his human form to his martian body and back.

 

“I think I have my reasons to be wary.”

 

The other martian’s eyes had widened at the shift, but a hardness grew in them just the same.

 

“I had nothing to do with the eradication of your race Green. It is not in my nature to kill so needlessly.”

 

J’onn snorted.

 

“I find that hard to believe.”

 

“Believe what you will,” Gurtag replied dismissively. “But I only kill if there's money involved, to defend myself and my investments or because someone has really pissed me off. I have no need to pull babies from cribs and throw them into internment camps. Besides, I left Mars centuries before the extermination of your race began. Following doctrine was never my dream.”

 

The director still stared at the other martian with distrust in his eyes.

 

“It would be unfair to judge him before you got to know him. We wouldn’t want to be an organisation that discriminates against other species blindly, now would we,” Liam interjected with an acidic voice and a hard glare at the older man.

 

J’onn scowl changed into a neutral expression before he gave a hard nod and gestured for the armed agents to back away.

 

“If you’re staying, temporarily or permanently, you need to apply for a visa. Agent Danvers can take you to HR to fast track it,” J’onn said before turning sharply on his heel and stalking off.

 

Liam turned back to face Gurtag and gave him a wry smile.

 

“He likes you.”

 

The martian raised an eyebrow.

 

After the lingering and still tense agents dispersed, Maggie and Alex stepped forward. The detective introduced herself and her wife with enthusiasm.

 

“Hi, I’m Maggie and this is my wife, Alex. We’re Liam’s aunts.”

 

Gurtag shot Liam an amused look before he turned and faced the two women with a charming smile on his face. He held out his hand to shake both of their's firmly before facing Liam with a faux indignant look.

 

“Liam, you never told me that you had women of such radiant beauty in your family. If I had known, I would have demanded that you bring me to your planet much sooner,” he said before turning back to face the other pair.

 

“Ladies, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name, is Ga’Rath Gurtag and I am your humble servant,” he said, finishing with a small bow.

 

Alex’s face quickly grew uncomfortable, while the corner of Maggie’s eyes crinkled in amusement. Liam for his part, simply let out a loud groan before punching his friend lightly in the shoulder.

 

“Can’t you just reign it in sightly? I don’t need you going all swagger sauve on them.”

 

The Martian quirked his head as if he was listening carefully.

 

“From what I can hear, there seems to be a disproportionate number of your family in this very building as we speak. Given those odds, who knows how many you have scattered around the Earth. Am I to avoid being polite with all of them?”

 

Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“First of all, I know you’re not being polite. You’re only nice to people if you want something. In women’s cases, its probably because you want to sleep with them.”

 

Alex’s face blanched.

 

“And secondly, there are plenty of other people on this rock available to receive your charm. Just keep it in your pants around my family.”

 

The martian remained amused but raised his hands in surrender.

 

“So defensive. It is strange to hear you be so protective of your family. In the entire time we’ve known each other you’ve never spoken of them. I assumed you didn’t like them. The man copywriting on the third floor agrees with me, he is convinced that you and your blonde mother will have an epic battle to the death soon.”

 

At that statement, Alex’s face grew thunderous.

 

“As long as you are on this planet, you will respect people’s privacy regarding their thoughts. Is that clear?”

 

Gurtag looked slightly sulky.

 

“Well, it’s not like anyone would know-“

 

“J’onn will know. If he catches you doing it again you will be removed from this planet so fast you’ll taste the wind,” the redhead said with a firm glare.

 

The martian nodded reluctantly and Alex stalked off. Maggie gave her nephew a look before following her wife, leaving Liam and Gurtag standing alone. The dark-haired man clapped his friend on the shoulder.

 

“Come on. It’s not like you’ll be here that long anyway.”

 

The martian’s eyes roamed around the room with interest.

 

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to Earth before. I might hang around for a while. Besides, from what I did overhear, things around here have been very interesting since you arrived. You might need a friend.”

 

The martian smiled and rubbed his hands together.

 

“Now! How about we taste some of those delicious treats that Jill was eating in the coffee room a minute ago, and you can tell me how you managed to get yourself in this far over your head.”

 

* * *

 

Lena was exhausted when she finished work. Every day for the last few weeks had seen an endless barrage of requests from the media for interviews. With her, with her son and with her ex-wife. At first, she had been determined to ignore it and instead simply released a statement requesting privacy while hoping for the storm to die down. Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Conspiracy theories were running rampant, and two camps seemed to have been set up regarding the incident. The first believed that all Luthor’s were inherently evil and that Liam was the murderer. And the second believed passionately that the family was being unfairly targeted.

 

Lena supposed she should be flattered to some extent, that there was a group of people who believed in her family at all. Once upon a time, the CEO would never have thought it possible that people would smile when they recognised her on the streets, as opposed to spitting.

 

Still, the investigations into the mysterious woman and her death were hitting dead ends at the police department and the DEO. To everyone's frustration, leads were unforthcoming.

 

Liam, in particular, had entered a foul and brooding mood. Rather unfortunately, it reminded her of his behaviour during the last year before the bombing. Nina seemed determined to stay out of his angry way, but Lena wasn’t so fortunate. She had tentatively floated the possibility of him releasing a statement to the press, which caused him to explode at her with fury. She, of course, had responded in kind. The argumentative mood was pressing down on her from all sides when she entered the apartment, which was probably why Lena was still at the office this late at night.

 

The green-eyed woman had just finished perusing another stack of unnecessary paperwork when there was a knock on her office door. She had sent her assistant home hours ago, but whoever it was had to have been cleared by security to enter.

 

“Come in,” she called softly.

 

To Lena’s surprise, the door cracked open to reveal an equally exhausted looking Kara who gave her a small smile.

 

The brunette was thrown by the site of her ex-wife, her face must have shown it because Kara quickly began to ramble in explanation.

 

“Hey, sorry to just barge in like this but I was in the neighbourhood… well, I was flying by, and I noticed you were still in and I thought that maybe you might want something to eat. With me.”

 

The blonde woman presented the two bulging takeaway bags she was holding, and Lena only hesitated slightly before nodding and gesturing for her ex to come in. Any doubts she had about the impromptu dinner were eased immediately at the sight of Kara’s overlarge grin, her heart warming at the sight.

 

The blonde quickly set up the food on the coffee table while the CEO stood up and eased the heels off her aching feet with a groan.

 

Kara frowned at the noise.

 

“You work too hard Lena.”

 

The brunette let out a laugh at the familiar statement.

 

“I’ve always worked too hard according to you.”

 

The blonde shook her head.

 

“Yes, but since Liam came back you’ve started to go home at a reasonable hour. Except for this week.”

 

Lena raised an eyebrow as she sat and reached for the chicken dish.

 

“And how exactly do you know when I go home every night? Have you been flying by to check?” She asked amusedly.

 

Kara’s telltale blush was answer enough. Years ago, Lena would have been moved by the gesture, but now she just felt an overwhelming sense of regret.

 

“Oh Kara…..” she said sadly. Before she commented further, Kara stopped and gripped her hand for a quick squeeze while giving her a tight smile.

 

“Can we not talk about how I can’t let you go? I don’t want to ruin dinner.”

 

Lena didn’t want to ignore it but conceded to leave that particular elephant in the room alone.

 

The pair ate in silence for a few minutes, the blonde as usual eating three times as fast as Lena, before Kara started speaking again.

 

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyway Lena. About all this media stuff.”

 

The brunette nodded before swallowing her noodles and answering with a wave of her chopsticks.

 

“I brought it up with Liam, much to my regret. He’s going to have to make a statement. The silence isn’t putting them off the scent.”

 

Kara nodded but her face grew slightly nervous.

 

“Well… I’ve been talking to Cat about it, and she thinks it might be a good idea to do an interview. Like a feature spread. On you, me, maybe Kia… and Liam.”

 

Lena nearly choked on her food.

 

“You mean,” she said coughing with tears in her eyes. “A family feature? On the Luthor family? How is that going to help? He’s a witness to an assassination for christ’s sake, and you want to do an article on us?”

 

Kara squirmed in her seat.

 

“Well actually... Cat offered to write the article herself.”

 

Lena’s jaw dropped.

 

“She hasn’t written an article in over thirty years, why would she want to do this of all things?”

 

The blonde shrugged.

 

“Why does Cat want to do anything? I think it’s a good idea though. We need to take the focus off the act itself and refocus it on the man they're assuming did it. It’ll be good press for L-Corp too, and this way if Cat writes it’ll be beyond reproach. Plus we can trust her… not the dig into things that are a bit…. sensitive.”

 

Lena pursed her lips but admitted that her ex had a point. She frowned briefly before her mouth cracked into a smile.

 

“Fine,” she said renewing eating. “But you have to be the one to tell the kids.”

 

Kara let out a long groan while Lena laughed. The blonde smiled at the CEO, her eyes lingering Lena’s lips before her gaze locked onto the brunette’s. The two women stared at each other in silence while tension built between them.

 

Lena coughed and averted her gaze. Kara’s face fell slightly, but she kept her voice light when she next spoke.

 

“Well, let’s just hope he wants to talk to me after our last conversation.”

 

Lena frowned at the blonde.

 

“Yes,” she said dryly. “Am I allowed to ask what was said, or was this talk also a secret?”

 

Kara gave her a look but replied easily.

 

“I told him I wanted to have a relationship with him. And I gave him my mother’s necklace.”

 

Lena almost choked on her food again, and the blonde looked at her with concern before the CEO began to breathe again.

 

The brunette took three gulps of air before she answered her ex-wife with an incredulous look.

 

“You did what?”

 

Kara blinked at her before she repeated herself.

 

“I told him I wanted to have-“

 

“No, no,” Lena said, cutting her ex off. “I heard that. I’m just…. Well I mean I’m happy, ecstatic even but… This is a far cry from how you felt when we had our last conversation. Why the change of heart?”

 

The blonde remained silent, but her expression grew pained while she spent some time pondering the question. She let out a heavy sigh.

 

“I’ve spent so much time, being angry at him. More importantly, being angry at myself. Wondering if I could go back in time. A time when my son looked at me with love in his eyes, and where I could look at him without fear. Fear of what he is, what he’s done… what he could’ve done. If I could change time and make it all different... I guess I’ve started to realise that living in the past won’t change my future. I can’t ignore him and pretend he doesn’t exist anymore, Lena. He’s right here in front of me. Eating, sleeping, working, training and, honestly, being an arrogant shit.”

 

Lena laughed softly, causing the corner of Kara’s mouth to twitch upwards. The blonde paused again, her eyes slightly lost as they roamed around the office and landed on the picture frames on her ex’s desk. She stood and walked over to them. Picking one up, she smiled and brought it back to the couch to show Lena.

 

“Look at us. The four of us here. Those beautiful years where we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Kia didn’t have the weight of the world on her shoulders and Liam…. well Liam still had his innocence. This was our family. This is the world I’ve mourned for years. The biggest regret of my life is that I lost this. I lost my son in the darkness, a part of my daughter that died... and you. I lost you, my wife.”

 

Lena let out a sigh and placed her hand on Kara’s arm gently.

 

“Kara…,” she whispered, but the blonde hushed her by gripping her fingers and intertwining them with her own.

 

“It’s ok,” the hero said softly, her eyes filling with tears. “I realise now that that life is gone. And nothing I do is going to get it back because I can’t undo the past. But….” She said, drifting off as her eyes turned from Lena to stare at the photo again.

 

“I have the chance to build my own future. A future where Kia has healed. A future where I can trust my son. And maybe,” Kara said, turning her eyes back to Lena’s and leaning forward softly.

 

“A future where I can hold the love of my life in my arms again.”

 

Lena shivered slightly and her eyes fluttered closed as Kara moved towards her. Her lips brushed against the CEO’s briefly, before Lena pulled away fast and with a pained expression.

 

“I’m sorry Kara,” she whispered tearfully. “I can’t.”

 

The blonde’s eyes filled with sorrow but remained gentle as she swiped her thumb over her ex-wife’s cheek to catch a falling tear and pulled away.

 

“It’s ok,” she said with a forced smile. “Don’t apologise.”

 

Lena caught the blonde’s retreating fingers with her own.

 

“No number of apologies will ever be enough Kara,” she said pleadingly.

 

The blonde’s face became sad. She reached forward and gently tucked a loose strand of Lena’s hair back behind her ear.

 

“One day Lena,” Kara murmured softly. “One day you’ll have to learn that it isn’t a crime to allow others to love you unconditionally.”

 

Fresh tears began to fall down the CEO’s face as the blonde leant forward again and placed a gentle kiss on the brunette’s forehead.

 

“I didn’t mean to make you cry Lena,” she whispered softly. 

 

“I thought you’d be happy that I’m trying to talk to Liam again,” she said in a faux amused tone.

 

Lena smiled and chuckled tearily, trying to compose herself.

 

“I am,” she sniffed. “I really am. And it helps explain why he's been in a bad mood for weeks. I haven’t seen him wearing the necklace though…. how did he react when you gave it to him?”  


 

Kara sighed and rubbed the crease between her eyebrows.

 

“I don’t know. He didn’t really talk much, and I kind of just… left it there when I went. He was pretty defensive about the whole thing, to be honest.”

 

Lena nodded and felt the start of a headache beginning to form. Life had always been complicated for her, but the last few weeks had been testing even her vast sea of emotional empathy. With everyone in the family in knots about things and various emotions running high, a small part of her missed the times before Liam arrived.

 

At least when she was withdrawn from the world it was quiet, even if extremely lonely.

 

Ok, so maybe the loneliness wasn’t worth it.

 

She suddenly let out a laugh, that made Kara quirk her head in question.

 

“What’s so funny?” The blonde said, smiling at her ex’s small joy.

 

Lena turned to smile at the hero.

 

“I was just thinking, our family would probably keep an army of psychologists fed. We could probably all do with the help.”

 

Kara smiled and rubbed her thumb over a loose thread on the edge of her sleeve.

 

“Didn’t you…. I mean, when Liam first came back didn’t you want to send him in for therapy?”

 

Lena sighed again.

 

“Well yes, if anyone could use it, it would be our son.”

 

A part of Kara’s heart couldn’t help but swell at the term.

 

_Our son._

 

Lena continued on, oblivious, with a downturned mouth.

 

“But honestly I wonder what the use would be. He’s so stubborn, he’d probably just sit there and not say anything. As it is I have to force him to attend NA meetings and he’s hardly thrilled about that.”

 

Kara frowned herself.

 

“It’s for his own good Lena. Just like the meetings.”

 

The brunette gave her wife another wry smile.

 

“Well good. You can bring it up with him as well at the same time as the interview. It should go down swimmingly.”

 

Kara grimaced.

 

“I thought the point of getting to know each other again, was to avoid arguments.”

 

Lena smirked at the blonde mercilessly.

 

“Oh darling, you have no idea how many arguments I’ve had since he’s been home. I figure since you’ve decided to become active in Liam’s life again, it is your duty as his other parent to tackle your share of painful discussions.”

 

Kara glared at Lena out of the corner of her eye.

 

“This is you getting back at me for being the fun parent when the kids were little, isn’t it?”

 

Lena’s evil smile grew.

 

“Yep,” she said happily.

 

The blonde groaned again, before rubbing a hand down her face. She started to clear the various food containers from the table. Lena started to help, but Kara waved her away.

 

The brunette leaned back in her chair and studied ex-wife wife.

 

“You know, I think this is the longest conversation we’ve had alone in-“

 

“Nearly five years,” Kara said, finishing her sentence with a nostalgic smile.

 

Lena paused, before speaking softly.

 

“It’s nice. I’ve missed this. Takeaway dinners in my office, and you dropping in to tell me to go home. It reminds me of the first few years when we were younger and when I was in awe of having a friend as amazing as you.”

 

Kara shot her a piercing look, that made the brunette’s breath catch.

 

“Lena, we were never just friends. I may have been a stubborn idiot about it, but deep down I knew from the moment I first saw you that I was doomed to love you.”

 

The blonde held her ex’s gaze, before blinking and averting her eyes.

 

“But you’re right. I have missed this. The simplicity of it all.”

 

Lena hesitated but caved under her own desire. She lay a gentle hand on top of Kara’s.

 

“You know…. you can come by whenever, right? Don’t feel like you’re intruding. I think I’d like to get to know you again as well.”

 

The blonde couldn’t help but snort.

 

“I don’t think me popping by for dinner would go down too well with Liam right now.”

 

Lena couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

 

“Well, at least think about it.”

 

Kara nodded, albeit with slight reluctance.

 

After placing the empty containers in the bin, she hovered halfway between the office door and the balcony.

 

“You know,” she said nervously before clearing her throat. “I could… give you a lift home if you like? I mean, you don’t have to...”

 

Lena smiled at her awkward ex, but shook her head while leaning against her desk.

 

“I think security might find it a bit strange if you don’t exit the way you came in. We wouldn’t want your cover to finally break after all these years simply because you were being chivalrous.”

 

Kara gave her a heavy look and inched her way forward slowly.

 

“Well…. maybe they’ll think we spent the night in your office together. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

 

Lena couldn’t help but flush at the memories, but she crossed her arms and averted her gaze.

 

“All the more reason that you should leave through the front door. I don’t want to give any more credence to the theories popping up that we’re getting back together.”

 

Lena could have sworn that she felt Kara’s breath on her cheek, but when she looked up her ex was standing by the door with a saddened look.

 

“Yes… that would be terrible. Well, goodnight then Lena,” she whispered before leaving the room.

 

After the door clicked closed, Lena allowed herself a single shuddering breath.

 

“Goodnight darling.”

 

* * *

 

It was late at night by the time Liam had finished recounting to Gurtag everything that had occurred since he had arrived back on earth. The white martian didn’t speak, except to ask a few clarifying questions about Liam’s life before he left.

 

After Liam stopped speaking, the pair sat in silence for a few minutes before the alien let out a deep laugh.

 

“Well, well. Didn’t you lead a rather colourful life? It’s a wonder you never told me any of these stories before, they would have added enormously to your romantic persona. Bedmates would have come in droves to heal you with their love when they found out about your mother issues.”

 

Liam scowled at the smirking martian before throwing a half-eaten doughnut at his head.

 

“I do not have ‘mother’ issues.”

 

Gurtag grabbed the doughnut out of the air and placed it back on the table between them.

 

“All the same Liam, you know I’m here for you right? I owe you my life and more, so I’ll stay as long as you want.”

 

He stopped, before continuing with a softer voice.

 

“You just say the word, and I’ll help you fight your way out.”

 

Liam gave his friend a smile but shook his head.

 

“Thanks, but no thanks. For now, I’m needed here. Besides, all this Cadmus shit…. I think it’s time I found the bastards and taught them a lesson once and for all. No more running away.”

 

Gurtag groaned.

 

“But running away is what we do best! Fine, I suppose I’ll stay and help you on your noble quest. But only because I like you.”

 

Liam gave his friend a grateful look, before standing.

 

“Well come on then. If you’re going to stay, you'll have to get that visa like a respectable person.Also... you’re going to have to find a place to stay. And you’ll need a human name.”

 

Gurtag frowned and began following Liam as he walked out of the break room.

 

“What’s wrong with my name?”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“The goal is to remain inconspicuous Gurtag. You can’t run around as your scary self and not have a human sounding name. You’ve got to blend in. Besides, you’ll have far more luck experiencing the full range of human culture if you look and behave like one.”

 

The martian frowned but nodded his assent.

 

“Fine. What do you suggest my new name be?”

 

“Well,” Liam said thoughtfully. “Usually it’s a play on your actual name. Let’s think then… Ga’Rath Gurtag… Ga’Rath…Garrath....hmmm...”

 

Liam began to smile to himself but before the Martian could ask any further questions, the green-eyed man spotted his redheaded aunt and called her over.

 

“Hey, Auntie! Gurtag’s ready to get his visa applications filled out.”

 

The older agent eyed the smiling martian suspiciously, before turning to speak to her nephew.

 

“Does he have a human name yet?”

 

Liam smiled.

 

* * *

 

“Gary?” The martian said while inspecting the new ID card he had been handed. He looked up at a smiling Liam.

 

The bearded man nodded in reply. Gurtag, or now Gary, frowned down at his card.

 

“And this is a fearsome name?” He asked dubiously.

 

Alex tried to muffle her laughter while Liam’s grin cracked wider. But he nodded seriously when the martian turned to look at him.

 

“Yep. Very fearsome. Only the greatest of warriors are called Gary.”

 

The martian still frowned but nodded his head while pocketing his new ID.

 

“Very well, it will do.”

 

Liam clapped his friend on the shoulder.

 

“Welcome to Earth buddy. We're very glad to have you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what did we think? The struggle I've been through to find a decent internet connection this week has been ridiculous... so this chapter comes to you after being shouted at a lot for not uploading properly. Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments below :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long week, we have the next chapter. Lighthearted and a little shorter than usual, but that's the way it goes. On another note, my internet is finally regular again so yay me. First thing I did was watch the pilot episode of the new series on SciFy, Krypton. I liked it, and if it continues to be good who knows, maybe I'll include some of the backstories in this fic if relevant.
> 
> And wow, I reached 500 kudos on the chapter, so thank you all :) 
> 
> Anywho, hope you enjoy :) Let me know what you think in the comments below.

“I don't think this place has changed in the entire time it's been open. Pretty sure the furniture is the same too.”

 

Nina looked around the old bar. Peeling paint and aged wood, as well as a battered pool table that had seen far too many winters. Alcohol stains had changed the colour of nearly every tabletop, and the cracks in the leather padded booth chairs had been duct taped closed. The same old jukebox that had sat in the dimly lifted room since the place had first opened its doors, was crooning out a cheesy two thousand’s. The young woman at the bar winced as the sounds of NSync drifted through the room.

 

She turned to face and reply to the blue-eyed woman who had spoken and was standing next to her.

 

“Yes. A good thing the DEO helps keep the health department off their backs. One inspection of this place and they’d be shut down for good.”

 

Kia pulled up the stool next to the younger woman and rubbed her hand fondly over the well-worn word of the bar.

 

“So many memories in this place. Even before we were born, our parents came here.” Kia said before she let out a small laugh.

 

Nina looked at her with surprise. Joy wasn’t something that was often seen on the hero’s face. The brunette studied her for a minute in silence before sighing and downing the drink in her hand, and then moodily glaring at the empty glass.

 

Kia eyed the line of finished shots in front to the younger woman with concern.

 

“You ok there, Tweety?”

 

Nina scowled, before slamming her glass down and turning to face the other woman with a snarl.

 

“What’s it to you? Why are you even here?”

 

The light haired woman raised her eyebrows at the tone before she responded dryly.

 

“Well, I was having a drink by myself in the corner booth, just like I do every week because I'm a lonely sad sack when I saw you. It looked like you were doing the same as me, and misery loves company so here I am.”

 

The shorter woman’s scowl deepened.

 

“Can’t you find someone else to annoy? I came here to be alone, not to be accosted by you.”

 

Kia raised her eyebrows, before leaning back on her stool.

 

“Great plan,” she replied sarcastically. “Good choice in finding the one place on earth for certain you wouldn’t run into somebody you know. It’s not like our family practically lives here or anything.”

 

Kia paused, before rolling her eyes at Nina’s lack of response.

 

“Oh for God’s sake. My christening party was held here! And I know for a fact, that Maggie re-proposed to Alex right there,” she continued, pointing toward the nearest booth.

 

“Don’t tell me you wanted to be left alone if you came here. It's always filled with the ghosts of Christmas’ past and present,” she finished, gesturing to herself.

 

Nina nodded begrudgingly, before eyeing the bathroom in disgust.

 

“I’m pretty sure Carter was conceived in there.”

 

The blue-eyed woman tried to hide her snort but failed. She didn’t wait for Nina to say anything else, and she gestured or another pair of shots from the scaly bartender. Once poured, she pushed one towards the younger woman and raised hers in a toast.

 

“What do you say Tweety? A toast to world peace?”

 

Nina couldn’t help but allow a small smile to grow on her face, she looked down at her own glass wryly before lifting it for a clink.

 

“World peace,” she responded sarcastically.

 

Both women downed their shots, and Nina spoke again.

 

“Tell you what. You tell me what’s got you twisted up, then I’ll do the same. What are people you kind of know for anyway, except to spill your guts to once and then never talk about it again.”

 

 

Kia tilted her head and smirked. They sat quietly for a few more moments before the blue-eyed woman started to speak in a soft voice.

 

“I guess I don’t need to tell you it’s been a… rough month. For everyone I know, but…. Well a lot of different emotions, in a short period of time. I’m kind of getting whiplash from it all. It makes me a shit… but I don’t want to be in it all the time. It’s like a giant boiling cauldron and everyone just wants to jump in… and all I want is to jump the fuck out.”

 

It was Kia’s turn to stare broodily, her finger running along the edge of her glass.

 

“You live your life for ten years one way, and then everything changes in a minute. I’m not saying it was a happy life before… for anyone. But it was familiar. Liam coming back has challenged the foundations of stuff I’ve rebuilt myself on since Rebecca died.”

 

Nina stared at the older woman after she drifted off.

 

“Wow… well if its any consolation, you seem to have a way better handle on understanding your feelings then I do. All I know is that I’m pissed. I’m pissed at Liam, and with all his moody shit. I’m pissed at Carter, hounding me about Mom and Dad. I’m just pissed off at myself. What the hell am I even doing here?” Nina finished, slapping her hand down onto the table so hard, the bartender jumped.

 

Kia gave the glaring alien an apologetic look, while Nina continued obliviously.

 

“I’m just in the fucking way. Let’s be real here. I was chafing at the bit, sick of being treated like a baby. I thought this was going to be the real deal when I came here. But instead of monitoring a possible terrorist, I feel like I’m the tag along guest to your family drama. Who am I kidding? I’m being babied here as much as I would be at home. Carter's right.”

 

Nina miserably hunched in her chair.

 

“What do you mean, your brother is right. Right about what?”

 

The brunette frowned before she sighed.

 

“Mom and Dad didn’t send him to look after me, so much as to convince me to go home. I’m starting to see the appeal honestly. I’m not doing anything useful here. If Liam really wanted to run, he’d give me the slip easy. And the exploding chip? Has no one but me realised that it wouldn’t matter because he can  _literally regrow limbs?_  He’s had plenty of opportunities to go, and he hasn’t. Plus, he’s perfectly capable of handling himself. Why would he need a bodyguard less skilled than him? He was the one who saved  _my_  arse at L-Corp with the agent.”

 

The brunette began to sniffle.

 

“The whole things a farce. Kara threw me a bone because I complained like a jealous child that I wasn’t allowed to play hero with the rest of you.”

 

Nina allowed her head to slip so it was leaning completely on the bar.

 

“I’m a fucking joke.”

 

A few seconds passed, and the twenty-one-year old nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand patted her on the back a few times.

 

“There, there,” Kia said awkwardly.

 

Nina allowed a single eye to open and turned her head to look blearily up at the older woman.

 

“You’re not used to comforting people, are you?”

 

Kia smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders.

 

“I was an entitled brat growing up, this is as good as I was ever going to be. Besides, the whole hero fantasy I had in my head as a child literally blew up. I’m not doing this because I love it. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”

 

Nina was all too aware of Kia’s personality. Everyone knew that the new Supergirl was as stoic as a rock.

 

Dependable? Sure.

 

Heroic? Definitely.

 

Bedside manner after saving someone? Non-existent.

 

The brunette let out a snort, and Kia looked at her in question. Nina lifted her head from the table.

 

“Do you remember when people started to think you were raised by Batman? All those brooding silences…”

 

The other woman rolled her eyes and scowled slightly.

 

“Not all of us want to hang around kissing puppies you know. All the public wanted when I turned up was a newer, shinier, extra hope-filled model of Mama. I’m far too cynical to be considered good enough, and I never smile for the camera’s.”

 

The hero frowned, her finger finding a groove in the table and pressing down on it.

 

“My dreams of being just like her died a long time ago.”

 

Nina sighed and closed her eyes.

 

“I guess I’m not the only one who thinks they’re the family disappointment then.”

 

Kia looked at her piercingly.

 

“A bit of advice from a grumpy loner? Everyone thinks they’ve disappointed their family at some point. Look at my Mom. For years she was the second choice, the adopted kid. Not a ‘real’ Luthor, whatever the fuck that means. She’s a goddamn genius level intellect CEO, and she  _still_  has self-esteem issues. And don’t think for one second that my Mama was any better. When she stepped onto the scene, she was terrified she’d never live up to Clark’s reputation. Even after he died, a part of her still walked in his shadow. And just so you know? Sitting in your sorrows and drinking away your misery, particularly concerning how you view yourself, won’t make you feel any better.”

 

Nina gave her a look, and her lips pursed.

 

“I suppose you’d have first-hand knowledge in that department then?” She said snarkily

 

The blue-eyed woman shrugged, totally unfazed.

 

“Yep. And unless you want to end up like me, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

 

Kia gestured for two more drinks while Nina’s eyes averted down to the table, starting to feel the hints of shame she had for herself creep back.

 

“You’re damaged, but at least you're out there doing something. Helping people in some way. Living up to your potential.”

 

The older woman knocked back her next drink and let out a strained laugh.

 

“Please tell me we’re not going to play the ‘who was it worst for’ game. You know that’s bullshit, right? I’ll give you the four-one-one on that too. There is  _always_  going to be someone who’s ‘had it worse’. And there’s always going to be someone ‘who’s had it better’. It’s all about perspective. Sure, we could all spend our time counting our wounds and comparing them for judgment, or we could jus suck it up and get on with it.”

 

Nina began to rub the sides of her head.

 

“Yeah….” she replied in a weak tone.

 

Kia rolled her eyes and then gave her a light punch on the shoulder.

 

“Come on kid. You’re allowed one night to whine to me, then you’ve got to make your mind up. You gonna wallow forever, concede defeat? Or suck it up and stick it out? Though personally,” Kia continued, gesturing for yet another drink for herself.

 

“I don’t really get what you're complaining about. Do you want to be taken more seriously? Earn that shit. Work your way there. And if people still treat you like a baby that needs to be sheltered, you break those barriers apart yourself. Hanging around here drinking isn’t going to get you any closer towards those goals. I don’t really get it though, cause it seems like you aren’t really doing this 'aspiring hero' crap for yourself, so much as to make yourself feel better about your own insecurities. But that's just a thought.”

 

Again the hero downed her shot, all the while Nina staring at her with a slightly gaping mouth, shutting it when Kia noticed.

 

“What?” The taller woman grunted. “I can process my emotions and label them just fine thank you very much. And I know the lot of you think I’m emotionally stunted because of my ‘personal tragedy’,” she said in a mocking tone.

 

“But you spend enough time stuck in your own head with your thoughts and feelings, and you learn to get observant of others. Just because you think I don’t give a shit most of the time, it doesn’t mean I don’t notice stuff.”

 

Kia trailed off, and Nina cleared her throat.

 

“I wasn’t surprised… well, maybe a little. It’s just… I don’t know why I’m doing any of this.”

 

The taller woman huffed, before replying in a stern tone.

 

“You need to figure your shit out then. You can either be an anchor or a sail on your own life dipshit,” she finished darkly.

 

A mix of emotions rushed across Nina’s face before it relaxed and she let out another heavy sigh.

 

“Yeah, you’re right. You may not know everything… but you’re still right.”

 

It was Nina’s turn to drain her drink. Once she finished, she turned to face the other woman.

 

“Just for the record, I know you care. You may think that you’re an asshole, but you’re also a goddamn hero.”

 

Kia gave her a pitying look.

 

“You say that with admiration, but I told you already, I’m not doing this because it’s my calling. I don’t have the ‘heart of a hero’. Sure, it was a fantasy when I was a kid. I wanted to be just like my parents, most kids do. But it was for glory, not because I was altruistic,” she finished bitterly.

 

Nina was confused.

 

“Then why do you do it? You say it’s because it’s the right thing to do, but if being a hero isn’t who you are, why are you doing it?”

 

Kia looked at her like she was stupid.

 

“Oh come on, even a first-year psychology student could guess that one.”

 

An irritated look crossed Nina’a face before she understood.

 

“Because of Rebecca, right?”

 

The blue-eyed hero nodded and grief flashed in her eyes before she withdrew behind a blank mask.

 

“When I met her, I was an arrogant, entitled kid with my head up my ass. I thought I was a gift to the earth and she was the first person I met that wasn’t dazzled by my charm.”

 

Kia’s facade cracked, as she smiled at her memories.

 

“I’m pretty sure she hated my guts actually. She was in the same ward as Liam getting treated when I met her for the first time. My Mom had dragged me to the hospital to visit him that day, but I had been to a party the night before so I was off my face drunk. I could barely stand straight and I didn’t want to go. Needless to say, once we arrived I was in a foul mood and felt like shit and pretty soon I needed to throw up. I literally ducked through the first open door I could to find a bathroom. What I failed to realise, was that it was an occupied room."

"Bec’s first impression of me was hearing me vomit in her private toilet. She found it ironic later on, when I was the one holding her hair back during treatment. Statistically speaking she should have been the first one to chuck up in front of the other in our relationship. Anyway, I emerged from this bathroom to find an angry, skinny and bald-headed girl ready to murder me, all because the sounds of me in the bathroom caused her to miss the ending of one of her favourite daytime soaps. She threw her cup at me if I remember correctly.”

 

Nina smiled.

 

“And then you fell in love.”

 

Kia let out a laugh.

 

“God, you say that like it happened in five seconds. I left that room determined never to see her again, embarrassed as I was. Of course, then every time we went to visit Liam she was always there. In the hall, near the nurses station. Then we found out, she and Liam got on like a house on fire. Even though she was older, Mom had her round for dinner all the time once they both got out of the hospital. He didn’t have many friends, so Mom really pushed it. In the end, though, she became closer to me then Liam and over the course of many cheesy film montages we ended up together.”

 

Kia’s smile grew bitter again.

 

“She was the real hero you know. An everyday hero. Even when she wasn't sick, she was at that hospital every week volunteering. Bec wanted to help people. And for no other reason than because that’s who she was. Not because it brought her glory, or made people like her, but because it was just in her. She didn’t have family expectations to live up to like me. And it got her killed. But what was I going to do once she died, fall apart totally and throw it all away? I had all these gifts, these powers and I wouldn’t use them to help people? It would’ve spat on everything she believed in.”

 

Kia stared down at the bar and said forcefully.

 

“That’s why I do it. Because it’s what she would have done if she was me.”

 

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes while Nina processed what the other woman had told her.

 

“I think,” she started softly. “That you’re not giving yourself enough credit. If you really were numb to it all and just going through the motions, you wouldn’t be sitting next to me listening to my whining now. And I remember Rebecca, she was a force of nature. And I don’t think the kind of person you’re describing would have been with you if she didn’t think you were a good person.”

 

Kia smirked at the younger woman.

 

“I’m not sitting here in a self-loathing stew Nina. I just know who I am, and  _what_  I am.”

 

Nina shook her head.

 

“Say what you will, but all this talk of you not being a real hero, while you stare broodily at the wall and the bottom of a glass, doesn’t take away from your deeds. You’ve helped so many people. I don’t care what you say, someone who really didn’t care wouldn’t have done it. Regardless of what their dead fiancee would have wanted.”

 

The older woman didn’t answer but tapped her fingers in a rhythm along the edge of the bar.

 

“Besides,” Nina said shrugging. “You wouldn’t have told me all of that if you didn’t want me to understand. If you really didn’t give a shit, you wouldn’t care what I thought.”

 

“I  _don’t_  care what you think,” The blue-eyed woman snapped.

 

Nina merely smirked at the response and shrugged again.

 

“ _Sure..."_ she drawled before her face became serious.

 

"Hey, look... I don’t know everything that’s going on with you. But I think, just like everyone else, you’ve been sitting on this shit for ten years. Now that everything has been thrown into chaos for everybody, we’re all going to have to deal with our crap. You know, I once met this cranky half-alien in a bar who told me in life, you either deal or you don’t. What type of person do you want to be?”

 

Kia was mute for a few seconds before she burst into laughter. The sound instantly lifted the heavy mood lying over them and Nina felt herself smile in response.

 

“Well, what a pair we make hey? If anyone had told me a few months ago we’d be giving each other advice over drinks, I’d have had them committed. I’m pretty sure I still thought you were an annoying twelve-year-old. Now you’re an annoying twenty-one year old, with anger management issues. It’s rather refreshing actually. No one has had the gumption to tell me off in years. I think they’re scared I’ll fly off the deep end.”

 

Nina hummed.

 

“I think in your parent’s case, they've just been worried about saying the wrong thing. They didn’t want to lose you, especially after they'd already lost Liam.”

 

Kia grunted and Nina proceeded cautiously.

 

“They’re probably just so used to waiting for you to open up to them, that they’ve forgotten how to ask you how you’re feeling. Maybe you just need to find someone to talk to. Therapy…maybe?”

 

The older woman shot Nina a withering glare, that caused Nina to trail off with an awkward look.

 

“I don’t need therapy. Why would I? Besides, we seem to be having a heart to heart just fine, and there’s alcohol involved.”

 

Nina rolled her eyes.

 

“I’m not a therapist Kia.”

 

The other woman looked at her appraisingly.

 

“Maybe so, but you were the one who said you wanted to help. Maybe think of this as you helping. Supergirl’s mental health is paramount to the safety of this city after all.”

 

Nina sighed and closed her eyes.

 

“Is this you asking me to be your friend? Cause you suck at it.”

 

Kia shrugged and gave her a half smile.

 

“Yeah well, you retreat from the world for a few years and you kind of lose your social graces. Besides, you are honestly the first person in a long time that doesn’t annoy me in five minutes so that’s a plus.”

 

“All very nice things to start with when offering a friendship proposal,” Nina said dryly.

 

The brunette was about to tease the hero further when she picked up on the slight tension coiling in Kia’s shoulders and felt a wave of pity wash over her.

 

“Well then, if we’re going to be friends we should get good and drunk together to break the ice,” Nina said before calling over for even more shots.

 

The hero looked at her with slight disbelief, before a beautiful smile crossed her features. It reminded Nina of old photo’s of her Aunt Kara, back when she used to smile too.

 

“Anyway, you can’t be worse than your brother to hang out with,” the brunette finished, picking up the shot glass that the now exasperated looking bartender handed her.

 

"As long as you down passively insult me the whole time, we'll get along just fine."

 

Kia picked up her shot in return.

 

“I can’t be worse than  _your_  brother to hang out with either.”

 

Nina laughed.

 

“That’s a given," she said in amusement before turning serious.

 

"I’m off duty for the rest of the night, Liam’s at the DEO punching cars...  _again_. And I’m assuming you don’t have hero duty?”

 

Kia shook her head, and Nina clinked their glasses.

 

“Then let’s get fucked up.”

 

* * *

 

Liam was woken up at three in the morning by the sound loud crashing. He sat bolt upright just in time to see two figures stumble into the apartment, only the trip and fall down onto the floor in a pile of limbs and laughs. Before he could investigate further, the light switch was flicked on by a nightgown clad Lena, a gun gripped in her hand.

 

Her expression changed from fierce, to confused and annoyed as she lowered her weapon. Liam turned back to look at the now laughing pile and his eyes widened in surprise.

 

A clearly intoxicated Nina and Kia lay side by side on the floor, each gripping each other in a tight hug.

 

“Seeeeee,” the older woman slurred before waving a hand dramatically above her head. “Not only can I flyyyyyyy, I’m also as master of the stealth.”

 

Nina gasped in surprise and awe.

 

“Oh my God, you’re amazing. You’ve gotta to teach me allllll your tricks.”

 

Her eyes widened in excitement, and she rapidly patted the blue-eyed woman on the shoulder.

 

“You can be like my sensei. Like my mentor. That’d be so cool!!!”

 

Liam’s shock increased further as his sister let out the equivalent of a preschooler’s giggle, and jumped to her feet while swaying with joy.

 

“That’s a great ideaaaaa! We can like bond… and talk about girls, and paint our guns and then we could beat bad guys up together!”

 

Nina scrambled to her feet as well, and gripped the other woman’s shoulder’s tightly.

 

“Oh my God, would you take me on a Super mission? That would be sooooo awesome!”

 

The pair began to bounce together in excitement, each leaving small dents beneath their feet.

 

“Of course I will! Then you can get... like your own superhero name! Something realllyyyyy cool, and like, your own… Not a hand me down name…. Not, like an inherited name either…. Be careful,” she said, suddenly serious.

 

“Don’t let anyone pick at the DEOE. They’ll give you something  _stupidddd_ … Like Valour Girl, or something else that’s stupid.”

 

Nina’s face wrinkled in disgust.

 

“Ewww.”

 

Kia nodded seriously.

 

“Ewww is right. Promise you’ll come to me if you need help picking? Promise me!” She demanded with a wagging finger.

 

Nina nodded determinedly, before placing her hand over her heart.

 

“I swear.”

 

The two women were clearly oblivious to Liam and Lena’s presence, and the pair watched them with shock and fascinated curiosity. The CEO only shook from her silence when the two drunkards began to giggle and hug each other again.

 

She walked towards the pair and called out to get their attention.

 

“Nina, Kia. You’re drunk. I think you should go sleep it off in the spare room.”

 

The pair turned to look at the older women in shock, before Nina faced Kia with an accusing look.

 

“You didn’t tell me your Mom was home!” She whispered.

 

Kia looked both guilty and confused, before she turned to her face mother with a questioning face.

 

“Mom? Why didn’t I tell Birdy you were home? Did I know you were home?”

 

Lena wasn’t given a chance to answer, before Kia turned back to her drunk counterpart with a shit eating grin.

 

“Did you see what I did? I called you Birdy! Cause everyone calls you Tweety, and you hate it so now you're Birdy. Maggie calls the prodigal son Tree now, so you can be _Birdyyyy,_ ” she said with a trill.

 

A panicked look crossed her face and she raised her arm in apology.

 

“But only if you want to! You don’t have to!”

 

Nina smiled in response, and began to sniffle. Tears filling her eyes.

 

“No one’s ever cared about my nickname before. Oh my God, I love you so much… I wish you _really_ were my sister.”

 

Kia began to cry, before gripping the brunette in a tight hug.

 

“I wish you were my sister too… You’re so _amazing_ … You give AMAZING advice.”

 

Nina nodded into the taller woman’s shoulder, before she pulled apart with renewed excitement, her sadness forgotten.

 

“Oh my god! My superhero name could be Birdy!” She squealed.

 

Kia grinned widely and nodded, before her face fell.

 

“But you can’t fly…” She said sadly, before her eyes relit with joy.

 

“That’s ok though, cause I can teach it to you!”

 

The two women weren’t allowed to talk further because Lena’s patience ran out and she stepped between them.

 

“Ok you two. It’s three in the morning, and I have to be at work tomorrow. Rest assured, I will be demanding an explanation from both of you in the morning but for now just go to sleep.”

 

They protested weakly, but Lena managed to nudge them into Nina’s room and close the door behind them. Another thump and sharp laugh sounded, before the noises in the bedroom faded to soft murmurs.

 

Lena turned to face her still speechless son who merely blinked in shock.

 

“Go back to sleep darling. Long day tomorrow,” she said casually before walking back to her own room.

 

Lena had turned the light off, and was tucked under her own sheets for a few minutes before Liam finally lay back down on the couch in the darkness.

 

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all,” he muttered to himself, before rolling over and smiling into his pillow.

 

First his friend turns up, then he gets to see his sister and Nina at the end of drunken bonding. All around, a very good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd we think :) Let me know!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the late update guys. You would not believe the week that I have had. Just a forewarning, this month is going to be insanely hectic for me, so while I will still endeavour to get a chapter out per week, they might be a bit scattered.

Nina woke up the next morning to the sounds of groans, and with a pounding headache.

 

“Ughhh,” she said sitting up and clutching her head. 

 

“What did we do to ourselves last night?” Kia’s voice questioned gravely beside her before letting out another moan. The light haired woman rolled onto her stomach and pulled the sheets up over her head.

 

“Everything hurts,” she said, her voice muffled under the blankets.

 

Nina sat up slowly, then immediately clutched the sheets to her chest and blushed a bright red.

 

“Errrrr... Kia? Why am I naked? Why are you naked!”

 

Kia pulled the pillow off her head and eyed the younger woman blearily. 

 

“I think sometime between falling over and breaking that lamp,” she indicated, pointing to the crumpled metal that had been thrown into the corner of the room.

 

“And arguing with me that the left side of the bed was always your side, despite never sleeping in a bed with someone since you were ten and it was your parents. I’m pretty sure we both decided the best way for you to absorb my flight powers, was through skin to skin contact.”

 

Nina frowned, but the events began to return slowly. 

 

Kia was speaking the truth. 

 

The younger woman blushed again and yanked the blankets so hard over her own head the other woman tumbled to the floor with a loud curse.

 

“What the fuck was that for?”

 

The dark-haired woman could barely whisper out her mortified response. 

 

“Did I really ask you to... to _spoon me_?” 

 

She peeked a look at the grumpy and grumbling woman, who was in the midst of sorting through scattered clothes, trying to find her own.

 

“I don’t know why _you’re_ embarrassed. It’s far worse for me... I agreed to do it,” she whispered while pulling on a pair of pants and frowning. 

 

“These aren’t mine.”

 

Nina snapped and jumped from the bed. She quickly located the other woman’s clothes and threw them in her face.

 

“Here! I can’t even.....”

 

She moaned at the sudden movement, and quickly rushed into the attached bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

 

Kia hovered awkwardly, before rapping her knuckles gently against the wood.

 

“Hey... you ok in there?”

 

The taller woman took the sounds of loud vomiting as a no.

 

“ **You**.... did this..... to **me**.....”

 

Another retch.

 

The splattering sounds made Kia wince before she felt slightly guilty and knocked on the doorframe again.

 

“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?”

 

The door flew open, and a pale and furious looking Nina stood pinning Kia with a hard glare.

 

“Not. From. You,” she muttered darkly, before pushing her way past the taller woman.

 

Just then, a loud pounding started on the bedroom door, followed up by an overly cheerful singsong voice.

 

“Sleeping Beauties!” 

 

Liam’s voice sounded gleeful, knowing full well the pain he was causing. 

 

“Rise and shine! Mom made breakfast...and I helped!”

 

A muffled voice was heard in the background. 

 

“You burnt everything you touched!”

 

“Kia likes things crispy!” He called back before pounding on the door again.

 

“You two are in soooooo much trouble,” he faux whispered through the door.

 

Nina’s throbbing headache increased tenfold. Both women rushed to put on clothes to the sounds of Liam’s incessant knocks. The younger woman yanked open the door and levelled the bearded man with her best ‘Luthor Like’ glare. 

 

“I swear to God Liam-“ 

 

The smiling man tutted, cutting her off.

 

“Now, now. That’s no way to speak to the person that helps feeds you after a night of drinking. Is it... _Birdy_.”

 

The green-eyed man grinned slyly, while Nina once again became mortified. 

 

Kia, having enough, pushed past the pair with a grunt and made her way to the kitchen table. She had barely sat down when the sudden snap of a tea towel hit her head.

 

“What the hell?” She cried, lifting her arms in defence and shooting her stoic mother a look of betrayal. Lena, for her part, simply folded the offending cloth and gave her eldest child a disappointed look, tinged with slight satisfaction.

 

“Feel like crap? Good. You two woke me up at a ridiculous hour this morning.I can’t believe you, Kia. You’re thirty-one years old, and you’re still out drinking to ridiculous hours. Dragging this idiot,” she said, pointing at an offended Nina. 

 

“Along for the ride.”

 

Nina pulled up her own chair and opened her mouth to protest. She quickly remained silent when Lena turned her sharp look to her.

 

“And you! Don’t think you’re going to get off any easier just because you’re a spring chicken. You’ve been given a position of responsibility by the DEO. One, I know for a fact,  Kara put her neck on the line to get for you. She’s the one who's responsible for your actions if you do something stupid. Your parents put their trust in her-“

 

Kia let out a loud groan, and face planted on the kitchen bench.

 

“I get that you’re pissed Mom. But the rest of us have reallllllyyyy good hearing, and your voice sounds like a jackhammer at the moment. And don’t jump Nina’s throat too much.... it was entirely my fault.”

 

Before Nina could argue, she heard a loud crunch and turned to spot Liam sitting at the end of the table, eating a packet of chips completely riveted.

 

“No, no,” he said muffled. “Do go on. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Kia apologise for anything before. This is like watching the Big Bang.”

 

His sister glowered at him from across the table, before throwing a fork in his direction at light speed. The tall man dodged it easily, the fork embedding itself in the wall behind him.

 

“FOR GOD’S SAKE! COULD YOU ALL STOP BEHAVING LIKE CHILDREN FOR ONE MINUTE?” Lena demanded, slamming the frying pan she was carrying down so hard on the bench the scrambled eggs flew into the air. 

 

The three of them immediately looked sheepish and ate the rest of their breakfast in relative silence.

 

They had just finished drying the last dish when there was a knock on the door. Lena opened it and with a look of surprise, revealed an awkward Kara standing next to a highly amused Gary. The martian rushed in through the door without an invitation, and gripped the stunned CEO in a tight hug,. 

 

“Hello, Mrs Liam’s Prefered Mother. It is a great honour to meet you!”

 

The green-eyed woman was lost for words even after she was released from the enthusiastic embrace. Liam walked over with a scowl and punched his friend in the shoulder. 

 

“That’s not how you greet people in _any_ part of the universe, you idiot. Stop trying to stir shit.”

 

Gary took on a wounded look and clutched his hand to his heart dramatically.

 

“You wound me, dear friend. As you well know, **I** am the polite one in our friendship.”

 

“Not a high bar to pass,” Kia muttered from the kitchen, glowering with her arms crossed. 

 

The martian picked up on her words and gave her his most charming grin, only for it to wither when the heat of her glare increased. 

 

Still, he tried his luck by approaching the angry woman with his hand outstretched in greeting. 

 

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Gurtag, formerly of the planet-“

 

“Yeah, ok. I’m Kia. Currently, of the planet I don’t care,” she growled out, inching her way out of his reach and towards Nina. 

 

Lena glared at her eldest for her rude manners, but Gary didn’t look offended. Instead, a delighted smile stretched across his face as he turned back to face his friend. 

 

“Such feisty women you have on this earth. Or is it just in your family? It will be an interesting experiment to see if any of them can be persuaded by my charming demeanour and the handsomeness of this form.”

 

Nina snorted but schooled her expression when Lena gave her a look, even as Kia shot her a grin. 

 

A slight pause covered the room, before Kara coughed, drawing the attention to herself.

 

“Hi, Mama. What are you doing here?” Kia asked, walking to meet her blonde mother and giving a Gary a wide berth. 

 

Kara smiled awkwardly and she gestured her arms vaguely.

 

“Oh.... well, Gary here, wanted to meet Liam in his ‘natural habitat’... so I offered to walk him.”

 

Liam raised his eyebrow and questioned sarcastically.

 

“You’re a flying alien superhero. Surely your time is far too precious to walk anyone anywhere.”

 

The heat of Lena’s glares we’re reaching nuclear levels this morning.

 

Kara, however, simply looked resigned to his layered words. 

 

The whole group was surprised when Gary spoke sharply to his bearded friend.

 

“Perhaps I should revise my statement of you being the polite one. Clearly, your manners have deteriorated further than I had thought possible. Your mother kindly walked me here. I did not know the way.”

 

Liam opened his mouth, ready to snap back when Lena cut him off with a sigh. The tensions in the room were giving her a headache...and she wasn’t even at work yet.

 

“Right,” she said briskly, getting the rooms attention. 

 

“I don’t care who hates who, or who isn’t speaking to what, and why anyone doesn’t like someone else. You are all standing in the middle of my apartment, and I would like to go to work.”

 

Nobody moved for a brief second, and Lena snapped.

 

“THAT MEANS GET OUT!”

 

Everybody began to move fast. Kia left, with a piece of toast in her mouth, after a muttered goodbye to her parents and Nina. The younger woman’s eyes flickered between Lena and Kara, taking in the awkward silence before retreating back into her own room under the premise of ‘getting a new shirt.’ After a few more seconds of silence between the remaining four people, Lena looked distractedly at her watch, huffed and turned to face her ex-wife.

 

“Right. So are you taking Liam with you somewhere? Is he going to the DEO? Is he coming to work for once? Can someone please tell me so I can finally get to my meeting.”

 

Kara shuffled again, and Gary was the first to speak with a wide smile.

 

“If it isn’t too much trouble, I am not aware of your day to day routines yet, would it be possible to see some of the city? This is my first visit to earth, and I would like Liam to show me his hometown in person.”

 

Lena was slightly startled by the man’s exceedingly polite tone and nodded her acceptance of the idea.

 

Even though she was slightly confused as to why she was being asked permission.

 

Nina emerged from her room... wearing the exact same shirt.

 

“What’s this now? Where are we going?”

 

Gary gave her his signature smile, before gesturing for the group to exit the apartment. Once they had all been shuffled into the hall, Lena left fast and with a distracted wave goodbye over her shoulder.

 

“I am being shown your city! Liam said he would take me last night. He also said that you go with him everywhere. Like an honour guard, yes? Being an honour guard is a highly respectable position. You must be very important.”

 

Nina blushed at his words, even as Liam scowled. Gary turned his smile towards his human friend, and his eyes filled with mischief.

 

“And of course, I invited your mother with us. She assures me she knows the best place to get those hole treats we had yesterday. I’m very excited.”

 

Liam’s glare could’ve burnt holes into Kara’s head at this statement, but she merely looked at him steadily even going so far as to raise an eyebrow.

 

“Is that a problem?” Gary asked in an innocent tone.

 

The bearded man didn’t shift his eyes from the older woman.

 

“She fucking _knows_ it’s a problem. You know forced exposure isn’t the way to get what you want,” he spat nastily at her.

 

Kara tilted her head.

 

“By all means then Liam, tell me what way I should use?”

 

The green-eyed man turned an alarming shade of red, and Nina interrupted quickly and tried to direct the attention back to the martian.

 

“Well, we better get going, Gary. If you want to see all the good sites that is. Of course,” she added frowning. “We’ll probably get swarmed by the media.”

 

Liam grunted, one last look shot at the older blonde woman, before striding towards the elevators. 

 

“Good. They can see that I 'get on' with my mother just fine and then they can piss off,” he said with heavy sarcasm as the doors closed.

 

As sad as it was, Kara couldn’t help but feel her heart race slightly when she heard Liam refer to her as his mother. 

 

She’d just managed to slow it down when they exited the lobby of the building only to be inundated with flash photography.

 

“Mr Luthor, where have you been all these years?”

 

“Mrs Luthor, does this mean you’re getting back together with Lena?”

 

“What about the rumours of abuse in the Luthor family, any comment on that?”

 

The group ignored the horde, pushing through to make it to the waiting car. 

 

Suddenly a hand darted out of the mix to grab Liam’s shoulder and spoke in a familiar nasally voice.

 

“Liam... remember me? I just wanted to ask you a few questions. About the rumours surrounding your substance abuse.”

 

The bearded man froze and his face became pale as he took in the familiar weasel like figure. The sounds of the crowd faded away, as he honed in on Todd Peterson’s yellowed and widening grin.

 

The paparazzo retracted his bony hand and flicked open his notebook obnoxiously.

 

“I’ll assume that’s a 'no comment'?”

 

The dark-haired man didn’t answer, even as the other reporters stopped talking and listened in on the conversation. Kara stepped forward instead, forcing herself in-between the two, her face like a thunderous cloud.

 

“Don’t you _dare_ speak to my son. Do you hear me you coach roach? Or have you forgotten what happened the last time you came near my family?” She threatened dangerously.

 

The skinny man’s smile faded fast, and his eyes grew wary. He faded back into the crowd of journalists and after a short pause, the questions began again. Kara all but shoved her son to move and pushed his staggering form into the open town car door. After all the occupants were settled, and the car had driven off, Liam began to stare out the window blankly. Nina and Gary exchanged confused looks but remained silent.

 

Kara hovered between imagining throwing the ferret-like reporter into space and battling with herself to not speak to Liam. 

 

She stared at her brooding son and decided to hold her tongue. 

 

Her thoughts towards him were still conflicted, while she was willing now to entertain the idea of having a relationship with the man, she wasn’t fickle enough to forget all the things he had admitted and told her he had done. 

 

It wasn’t pretty and it was raw. 

 

Kara desperately hoped that he had told her the truth, even though she wished it wasn’t the truth. 

 

He was extremely hostile to her, but she couldn’t begrudge him that. Liam had laid all his cards on the table and allowed his person to be opened up like a tin for Kara’s perusal. Her very _invasive_ perusal. The blonde couldn’t help but admire him for it. Very few people would be willing to do what he did with anyone, let alone someone he claimed to despise. 

 

The whole thing was far too complicated.

 

Kara wished she could see her son through Lena’s eyes. As much as her ex said otherwise, the blonde knew in reality that all the CEO could see when she looked at Liam was their little boy. Sensitive and caring, and with eyes that had experienced things no child should. 

 

He may not have the same scrapped knees, but Liam still had his lost look. Even if now he hid it under thick layers of disdain and sarcasm.

 

Still, as her eyes raked over his hunched body, she couldn’t help the instinct that swelled in her to protect her son and the wish to banish the sadness from his eyes.

 

Unfortunately, Kara didn’t think Liam would be very responsive to a heart to heart.

 

Kara was so absorbed in her internal debate, that she startled when Liam spoke to her.

 

“What did you do to him before?” 

 

The blonde blinked, before speaking slowly and carefully.

 

“I’m sorry? Did what to-“

 

Liam turned from the window with a scowl and barked at her.

 

“Peterson. What did you do to him before? I’ve never seen him back off like that before... even when we had the restraining order against the little shit he found workarounds. So what did you do to him that made him nearly piss himself.” 

 

 

_It was the third time that week Kara was late coming back to the house she shared with her wife. The place that had once been a happy home for their family, was now filled with painful memories and two broken people. They had been drifting apart for years now, ever since the bombing. Kia had retreated to a hole in the wall apartment in the city and refused to set foot in her childhood home._

 

_And Liam had... well Liam was gone._

 

_Kara wasn’t too fond of the place either. It didn’t help that whenever she entered, it felt like her son's bedroom was mocking her. Lena had refused to clean it out, something they had adamantly fought over for weeks after he had left. The day they found out their son had escaped from prison, the blonde hero had marched up to the room and literally began to crumple things with her bare hands. Her wife had caught her just as she was about to destroy Liam’s precious record collection._

 

_“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She cried, her eyes horrified and filled with tears._

 

_Kara snapped her angry gaze to the distressed brunette as she ran into the room and tried to shield the collection from the blonde’s grasp._

 

_“I’m getting rid of it. **All of it**. I refuse to live in a house where we keep a memorial for a traitor and a terrorist!”_

 

_Lena began to cry._

 

_“Kara… he’s our **son**.”_

 

_“ **HE IS NOT MY SON!** ” The blonde bellowed, immediately feeling guilty as her wife shrunk into herself. _

 

_She continued but in a softer voice._

 

_“ **My** son would never have done what he did. My son…” Kara’s voice cracked on the last word, and she drifted off while feeling a wave of exhaustion._

 

_The brunette reached out to touch her, but the taller woman yanked away._

 

_“Do what you want…. keep it. Keep it all. If this is what you need… If this helps you pretend like nothing happened and that Liam is going to walk through our door tomorrow and everything will be fine… Then keep it all. I wouldn’t want to break your fantasy,” Kara said, nearly spitting out the last word before marching out of the door._

 

_Things were never going to be normal again._

 

_Kara and Lena had both changed. Not only couldn’t they reconcile their differences regarding Liam, something that sat between them untouched and rotting. They had simply become different people._

 

_The blonde had erected a barrier between herself and her wife. A barrier between her and everyone actually._

 

_Except for when she was Supergirl, or Superwoman now that Kia had taken on the mantle. She refused to let anything taint her hero persona._

 

_Lena, for her part, retreated into her work. Obsessing on building a new hospital, a different site to the old one for obvious reasons, as well as patenting personally as many technological advances that she could think of._

 

_And they no longer talked to each other._

 

_Each of them found any excuse not to be in each other’s company._

 

_A DEO emergency._

 

_Alex wanted Kara to test out a new anti-alien device, or she needed to train Kia._

 

_A trip to Gotham._

 

_Lena had to visit Damian Wayne, to discuss whether the new CEO would be carrying forward the contracts his father had set into motion._

 

_On this particular night, the blonde was especially determined to delay her return home. It was officially the anniversary of Liam’s Cure Day. The day he was completely cleared of his disease, with no possibility of relapse. It had been one of the happiest days of their lives, only to be tinged later when they realised just how insidious the creators of the cure really were._

 

_Kara had walked home from work in her human persona ever since they had bought their house. The days she used to be able to fly and go as she pleased, had disappeared the second the paparazzi started to hang around. Her cover would have been easily broken the second a stray camera caught her flying home with Tuesday Night Takeout._

 

_She was tired though and irritable from her day. So when she saw the unpleasantly familiar form of Todd Peterson hanging outside her front gate, her anger began to reach nuclear levels._

 

_“What the hell are you doing outside my house? Leave now or I’m calling the police,” she stated coldly, stalking up to the greasy man and clutching her messenger bag so tightly her knuckles turned white._

 

_The ponytailed man jumped at her sudden presence but merely smirked in response to her threat, his gold tooth winking._

 

_“Mrs Luthor... long time no see. And I mean that honestly. I’ve been camped here for the last two days and I don’t believe you’ve been home in all that time. Problems in your marriage?”_

 

_Kara’s face became thunderous and she took a step closer to the skinny man._

 

_“Leave. My. Family. Alone.”_

 

_The weasel man’s smirk grew even larger._

 

_“A daughter who never comes to visit… a son that’s disappeared completely. A wife who can’t seem to bring herself to be alone with you. But I suppose the feeling’s mutual.”_

 

_Kara fought herself from cutting the paparazzo in half with her heat vision. Instead, she pulled out her phone._

 

_“That’s it-“_

 

_“Hey, hey, hey now. I don’t think you’ll want to be doing that…” Peterson said backing away slightly, before pulling a manilla envelope out from under his jacket and waving it._

 

_“Not when I have these.”_

 

_The blonde frowned at him, frustration increasing._

 

_“And what are those supposed to be?”_

 

_The man’s smile grew evilly, before handing the package over._

 

_“Have a look for yourself…. Now, I’d be willing to make a deal. No way are these not getting published, but I figure we can make this work for you if I write it from the right angle. An exclusive interview with me, what d’ya think?”_

 

_Kara opened the package and a fistful of photos slipped out._

 

_Her mind grew blank, and her face turned pale. A rush of air escaped her lungs, and she turned the photos with trembling fingers._

 

_“I can assure you, they ain't fakes.”_

 

_The tall woman turned from the photos and stared at the other man who continued on oblivious to her darkening gaze._

 

_“Like I said, lots of money in it for you if we just-“_

 

_The man’s speech was suddenly cut off when Kara seized the lapels of his jacket and pulled him close._

 

_“Shut up shithead. One more word and I will make you eat these photos. Nod if you understand,” she whispered dangerously, her strength lifting the man slightly off the ground_

 

_His eyes widened with fear, and he nodded._

 

_“Good,” she said continuing._

 

_“Now, here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go home, and destroy every trace of these photographs. You’ll drop any investigation you have into my family. You arrogant bastard, you have no idea how far in over your head you are. I am married to one of the most powerful women in the country. I’m friends with more. My sister is in the FBI and my sister-in-law is a detective in the NCPD. I’m an award-winning journalist, unlike you, and I have connections in the highest of places."_

_"None of this taking away from the fact that I am involved with numerous Alien rehabilitation and support groups, and am best friends with Superwoman. I will fucking bury you in every way humanly, and alienly, possible. I will rip apart your life. Every person you have hurt with your slanderous garbage, I will personally contact to form a class action suit against you. I'll make sure you don’t have a single cent left to your name."_

_"Then, I'll sink to your level. I will find everyone you love, because everyone has someone they love, and I will do everything I just told you to them as well. Do you understand me?"_

_"I will destroy everything you have, everything you own, everything you’ve done and everything you are. All you’ll have left by the time I’m done is your horrific soul and the slime off your back.”_

 

_During her speech, she had lifted the man completely off the ground. His legs kicked uselessly in the air._

 

_“Now… nod if you understood.”_

 

_The sweating man nodded._

 

_“Good,” she said, dropping him back down so hard that he sprawled on the pavement._

 

_“Now tell me… what are you going to do?”_

 

_The skinny man withered under her glare._

 

_“I’m going to drop the story, and destroy all the photos.”_

 

_Kara smiled._

 

_“Great to see we understand one another. Have a nice night now.”_

 

_The man stumbled away, and the blonde turned and entered her own house. The place was quiet. Kara could hear the sounds of her wife’s breathing and steady heartbeat in their bedroom on the second floor. She took a few deep breaths, before walking into the kitchen and pulling up a chair. The blonde sat silently for a few minutes, staring at the fridge before she opened her fist and realised the crumpled photos she was holding and lay them out on the bench._

 

_The first tear fell silently before she broke down in heavy sobs._

 

 

Kara stared at her son, a million thoughts running through her head. He kept looking at her with an annoyed and irritated expression, but the blonde could also see the vulnerability in his eyes.

 

“Nothing. Your mother threatened to sue him, that’s all.”

 

Liam looked at her suspiciously but nodded his acceptance of her words before turning to look back out the window. Nina looked at her slightly accusingly, but Kara frowned at the younger woman. A warning in her eyes to stay silent.

 

Nina held her tongue but shook her head, before also diverting her attention outside the window.

 

A gloomy silence fell before a weird sound, a cross between spitting and blowing air, filled the car. Nina, Kara and Liam all turned to stare at a highly concentrated Gary, whose blown up cheeks were making him look like a chipmunk.

 

“Uhhhhh, Gurtag? What are you doing?” Liam asked.

 

The martian noticed the half-horrified, half-amused expressions the three other people were wearing and gave them a confused look. 

 

“I was watching those mini movers online last night. All about humans and what they could do. And I saw that this was the way people 'whistled'. It looked very interesting, and I’m doing it just the way it was shown in the videos... but it just isn’t working.”

 

He blew another breath of air out, that sounded suspiciously like a fart. 

 

Nina hid her smile behind a hand, while Kara’s let out a laugh. Liam looked at the blonde woman in slight surprise, before turning his exasperated expression towards his friend.

 

“Gurtag-“

 

“No, no,” the Martian said interrupting. “You said that we have to use my human name.”

 

The bearded man rolled his eyes. 

 

“Ok then…. _Gary_. How about we leave the whistling for another time? Maybe practice when you’re… alone?”

 

The martian frowned.

 

“Could _you_ not show me how to whistle? Or don’t you know how?” He said with disappointment and judgement in his eyes.

 

Liam looked incredulous, and Kara bit her lip to stop herself from laughing again.

 

“Well, of course I know how to whistle! But it’s whistling! It’s not exactly a life depending skill to have!”

 

“Well that’s not true,” Nina said, interrupting. “You can whistle to call attention to yourself. If you’re in danger.”

 

The tall man turned his attention to her.

 

“You could just call for help.”

 

“But what if you were mute?” Gary asked, an innocent expression on his face.

 

Liam narrowed his eyes at his old friend.

 

“Then you could clap.”

 

“But what if your arms were pinned to your side. Say if you were tied up. Or maybe you don’t have arms. Then you should be able to whistle. Your life depends on it”

 

The green-eyed man turned his attention to Kara, her eyes sparkling at his clear annoyance. 

 

“Let me get this straight… You’re a mute, armless individual. Tied up, and in desperate need of help….” he asked, trailing off while looking at everyone as they nodded enthusiastically and with cheeky grins.

 

“Then I suppose…” he continued reluctantly and with a grumble. 

 

“It might be prudent to whistle.”

 

Gary and Nina laughed, and Kara couldn’t help but give Liam a fond look. 

 

He noticed immediately and instantly became defensive.

 

“What?” He asked tensely.

 

Kara didn’t react, except to smile softly.

 

“Nothing… It’s just you remind me so much of your mother that it’s scary. I’m pretty sure she would have argued a bit further than you though... Probably would have suggested that the armless mute individual have an internal panic button, activated only when they hummed a certain pattern. Still, I’m sure you would have gotten there in the end. You have Lena’s stubbornness.”

 

Liam stared at her for a moment quietly, before his own eyes softened a fraction.

 

“Well… maybe. But Mom assures me my appetite is all you. I don’t really know how that argument works though, we aren’t genetically related.”

 

The hero smiled wider, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

 

“Nature vs Nurture Liam. That’s the dealer in the game of life. We don’t choose the hand of cards we get, but we do choose how we play them.”

 

Kara paused, before continuing hesitantly.

 

“Just so you know... you’re game isn’t over Liam. You still have plenty of cards left to play. This round I think you’ll win for sure.”

 

Her dark-haired son blinked before opening his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by the sound of Kara’s phone going off. The blonde picked it up with a slightly annoyed look that melted away into seriousness when she read her message. The blonde quickly rapped on the partition between the passengers and the driver and gave him the DEO’s address.

 

“What’s happening?” Liam asked once the window had closed.

 

Kara looked at him grimly.

 

“We’ve got a lead. On Cadmus.”

 

* * *

 

The group walked into the buzzing hub of the DEO soon after. Everyone else was already assembled in the room. 

 

Liam and Kara were gestured over by Alex and Maggie.

 

“Hey there Tree. Little Danvers,” the detective said with a dimpled smile, her gaze flicking between the two of them. 

 

The bearded man became annoyed and took a deliberate half-step away from Kara, which only made the Latina woman’s eyes light up in amusement.

 

Kara ignored the exchange, and instead focused her attention on her sister.

 

“What’s the situation?”

 

Alex looked slightly triumphant, before pointing to Winn and her daughter with a smile.

 

“Ask these two geniuses”

 

Winn waved off the praise, even as Jamie tinged slightly pink at her mother’s praise.

 

“Oh, this?” The short man said with delight. “This was nothing. Just a ridiculous amount of hours combing through every bit of information, person and thing ever associated with Cadmus.”

 

Kara rolled her eyes.

 

“Get to the point Winn.” 

 

Meanwhile, Carter had spotted his sister standing on the edge of the room alone and made his way over. 

 

“Hey,” he said in a stern voice, grabbing her elbow tightly and walking her into the nearest empty room and closing the door. 

 

“Stop avoiding me. I told you already, I need to talk to you.”

 

Nina yanked her arm away in annoyance.

 

“And I told you, I don’t have anything to say to you. I don’t care how many times you ask, tell or blackmail me, I’m not coming home. Besides, the only reason you want me to go back with you is so you can get a gold star on your head from Dad for being a ‘good older brother’.”

 

Carter scowled.

 

“Listen to me, you little shit. You are in _way_ over your head. You might think because Auntie Kara gave you a babysitting job, that you are suddenly a vital cog in the way things run around here. But I know better. You’re just a stupid kid, desperate to be liked by the people you’ve idealised for years. You blow your chest out and throw desks to feel important. But deep down, you know that all anyone here thinks of you is that you’re annoying. Now do as you’re told, and go home to Mom and Dad.”

 

Nina’s face remained defiant, even if internally she was hurt. She didn’t have a chance to respond though before Kia suddenly popped up next to Cater’s shoulder. Her taller height making her thunderous expression looking down at the man all the more impressive.

 

“Get. The. Fuck. Out,” she spat, waves of fury rolling off her.

 

The mean expression melted off Carter’s face, but he still turned to face the woman and attempted to bluster.

 

“Kia, Nina is my sister-“ 

 

He was cut off, and let out a yelp of pain when the taller woman reached out to grip his shoulder tightly.

 

“Did I say you could talk? No. I said get the fuck out.”

 

There was a sudden whoosh, as Kia disappeared briefly with Carter, before turning up again alone in front of Nina. Her face had changed from mad, to concerned and she stepped closer to the other woman.

 

“Are you ok?” She asked gently.  


 

Nina’s face turned red.

 

“Are you ok!? What the fuck was that!” The shorter woman said with anger in her voice.

 

Kia looked slightly stunned, raising her eyebrows.

 

“What? Well, I-“ She spluttered before being cut off by Nina poking her sharply in the chest with a finger.

 

“And you say you don’t have the heart of a hero, well you’ve certainly got the fucking complex! For all your talk of me breaking down barriers, you sure a hell didn’t give me the chance!”

 

“Well, I-“

 

“And another thing,” Nina continued, cutting the other woman off again and starting to pace.

 

“What the fuck gives you the gall to swan in like that? He’s my fucking brother and I’m more than capable of handling him. He’s a dickhead and a prick, but I don’t need you to save me! What do you think he’s going to think now? I’m trying to prove to him and my parents that I don’t need to have someone hovering over me, protecting me from the universe and all its dangers. You just proved his fucking point! Apparently, I need someone to literally FLY HIM THE FUCK AWAY whenever we have a disagreement. I don’t need a white knight Kia. I need to be my own hero.”

 

Nina finished with a huff, and a silence fell over the two of them while Nina waited for Kia to speak.

 

“Well?” The younger woman said irritably after a few seconds. “What have you got to say for yourself.”

 

The hero raised an eyebrow.

 

“Oh? Am I allowed to speak now?”

 

A vein in Nina’s forehead began to twitch, and the older woman let out a huff and rubbed her temples.

 

“Look…” She began with a sigh. “I’m sorry… alright? I didn’t mean to be a white knight. I was the one who told you to stop being a victim and stand your ground. Lord knows the only person you can really rely on in this life is yourself. So you better learn sooner or later to handle your own shit before it handles you.”

 

The woman paused briefly, before giving Nina a look filled with discomfort.

 

“I just… you're my friend now. I haven’t had one of those in a long time… And he was being an arrogant dick. I don’t want you to be talked to like that. And I’m sorry you feel like I was trying to play hero with you, it wasn’t my intention. I just wanted him to stop. You shouldn’t have to listen to that crap. Your family should be supporting you, not bringing you down,” she finished softly.  


 

Nina let out a breath, and the tension left her face.

 

“I’m…. thank you. For what you did. I know you didn’t mean it badly. Well, I know you meant it badly towards Carter. For what it’s worth… I haven’t had a friend in a long time either and I’m probably shit at it. I’m not patient. I fly off the handle regularly. I get offended… a lot. I take everything personally. And as much as I don’t like to admit it… I really enjoyed drinking with you last night.”

 

She gave Kia a small smile.

 

“I’m a sucker for a heart to heart. Must be because of all the romcoms I love to watch.”

 

Kia let out a laugh.

 

“Yeah… well, I’ll probably be a shit friend too. I’m grumpy. I don’t like talking about my feelings… unless it’s in a bar. I probably have a drinking problem. I have emotional trauma up to my eyeballs and I can disappear for days at a time to the fortress of solitude. I don’t like it when people get close to me…. and I’m still in love with a woman who's been dead for ten years.”

 

She shuddered briefly, her eyes fluttering closed before looking down at Nina with watery eyes.

 

“If you can handle all that… I really would like to be friends.”

 

Nina smiled wider and tilted her head slightly.

 

“Same goes for me.”

 

The taller woman held her hand out for a shake, but Nina disregarded it and instead pulled her into a tight hug. Kia became stiff instantly, before relaxing slightly and hugging her back.

 

“Well…” The taller woman coughed awkwardly once she had been let go. “I really don’t do... the touchy-feely stuff.”

 

Nina raised an eyebrow and smirked.

 

“Unless your drunk right?”

 

Kia smirked back.

 

“Right.”

 

The younger woman laughed, before walking towards the door.

 

“By the way… where did you end up taking him?”

 

The hero blushed slightly.

 

“Errrrr…. central Australia.”

 

The younger woman paused, before laughing hard.

 

“Come on,” she said giggling. “Let’s see what’s going on with this lead.”

 

* * *

 

Winn started walking Liam and Kara through the various stages of his investigation.

 

“So, we all know Cadmus has been off the grid for a long time now, but we all know that just because they don’t necessarily call themselves Cadmus, the old organisation was directly linked to other corporations that are basically the same thing. I mean… we all remember Atlas.”

 

A silence fell over the immediate group, and a few eyes fluttered to Liam. 

 

The bearded man’s face darkened at the looks, and Kara quickly spoke.

 

“So.. what are you trying to say? Has Atlas turned up? Or mentions of them?”

 

Winn spoke his head but Jamie answered, typing a few keys on the computer to display a graph on the large projection. 

 

“Not Atlas no, but after heaps of digging, I found a company owned by a company that was owned by Atlas. It hasn’t made a peep in ten years either… until last week when a factory downtown bought it under a trust in its name. Not bad for a retiree and a young whippersnapper huh?”

 

"Hey!" Jamie protested.

 

Kara ignored her, and her face became eager.

 

“What company?”

 

Jamie hesitated slightly.

 

“…Foxwood Petfoods.”

 

The blonde blinked, and Liam let out a laugh of disbelief.

 

“You’re kidding? Our lead is a pet food company?”

 

Alex rolled her eyes.

 

“A pet food company with direct links to Atlas, who had direct links to Cadmus. A company that hasn’t made a move in ten years since the bombing! It’s them.”

 

Liam huffed, but Kara frowned in concentration.

 

“When Lena and I first started going out she had a member of her board, one of the old crowd from Lex’s reign she couldn’t get rid of. He used to drive her mad, did for years until she managed to get give him the boot. His name was Foxwood. Edgar Foxwood.”

 

Alex turned to her nephew with a triumphant look.

 

“That can’t be a coincidence.”

 

Liam grumbled but conceded the point.

 

“Fine. When are we going in?”

 

The redheaded agent laughed.

 

“What makes you think you’re going anywhere?”

 

The bearded man’s face turned thunderous.

 

“Are you kidding me? I’ve been here every day since the shooting at the zoo! You’ve been monitoring me, teaching me all your bullshit regulations. I have more field experience then agents double my age _and_ I have the I have the strength of a Kryptonian and instant healing abilities. I can do this!”

 

“You’re cocky,” Alex snapped.

 

“You’re not a team player, I don’t think you’ll listen to orders and you’re the type to sacrifice people to get what you want. You don’t value people or anyone’s life but your own.”

 

Liam stepped forward with a snarl.

 

“You don’t know anything about me. You have no idea-“

 

“Let him go,” Kara said interrupting.

 

The bearded man stopped and looked at the blonde hero stunned. Alex also looked gobsmacked. 

 

“Kara, you can’t think this is a good idea! Discounting what I just said, he’s their target! What if he gets captured? We have no idea what they want and we can’t risk someone’s life babysitting him in the field. Nobody needs the distraction from doing their jobs. And let's face it… people would be looking for a knife in the back from him. I won’t make them do it.”

 

The blonde shrugged.

 

“Then I’ll do it. I’ll be his babysitter in the field.”

 

Her redhead sister opened her mouth to speak, but Kara cut her off again.

 

“It’s my decision Alex,” she said firmly, before turning to face her unreadable son.

 

“How about you? Any objections?”

 

Liam stared at the stoic woman pensively for a few seconds, weighing the options mentally. He was sure if he said no he wouldn’t be allowed to go at all. And as much as the idea of spending even more time with the blonde woman today irritated him… he would rather go on the mission then be stuck watching from a screen, just because he wanted to piss her off.

 

“None from me.”

 

Kara smiled brightly, a look at odds with the particular circumstances.

 

“Great! Well, then I better take you down to the armoury. Get you outfitted in your gear!”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow.

 

“You have gear for me.”

 

“You have gear for you actually. All your belongings have been processed.”

 

The bearded man’s look became hopeful.

 

“You mean… I get my gun back?”

 

Kara laughed.

 

“Yes, you get your gun back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed :)
> 
> Also, I just finished watching the second episode of Krypton and I must say, I am very impressed thus far. It helps that Seg-El’s character is super similar to how I envision Liam's personality, so clearly, it was meant to be! 
> 
> So to all you readers, I would highly recommend giving the show a go.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's out a little later than I wanted, but it's a biggie. Again, just to reiterate, over the rest of this month updates may be a bit sporadic. Hope you enjoy!

“Oh, hello _darling_ … I’ve missed you,” Liam purred, as he ran his finger over his gun gently.

 

“It’s been an age since we last talked.”

 

Kara exchanged a bemused look with Nina, while Kia rolled her eyes.

 

“Men,” she muttered.

 

Liam didn’t spare her a glance, continuing to inspect his gun for any damage, but shot a few words over his shoulder.

 

“I know for a fact you tried to marry Auntie Alex’s motorbike when you were nine, I was the best man. So don’t tell me it’s just men who fall in love with inanimate objects.”

 

Nina looked at Kia with surprise, and the superhero turned beet red. The younger woman bit her lip to contain her giggles, but Kara wasn’t as thoughtful.

 

“That’s right!” She said with a laugh, lost in the memory. “I think I still have a video of the vows!”

 

Liam looked up sharply at that and gave Kara an unapologetically enthusiastic look.

 

“Please let me watch that!” He said with glee.

 

“Me too!” Nina added with a grin.

 

Kia protested, and glared a warning at her mother.

 

“If you still want to have a Supergirl in this city, I would go home and destroy all traces of that video.”

 

Liam and Nina snickered, and Kia turned her glare to the younger woman, making her stop immediately. Her younger brother had no such qualms though and continued to laugh until his sister threw a box of ammo at his head.

 

“HEY!” He shouted angrily, as the box bounced off his head with a thump and broke open, the bullets scattering over the floor.

 

Kia gave him her best sickly sweet smile.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” She asked in a naive tone.

 

The bearded man’s face turned into a snarl and he was about to speak when the four of them heard the sound of heels approaching. They all looked up, to see an exhausted Lena turning the corner of the armoury. She blinked as she took in the loose ammo, and the fierce expressions on her children’s faces directed at each other. 

 

Lena turned her gaze to Kara accusingly and shook her head.

 

“Typical. You never make them behave.”

 

The blonde’s eyes widened, and she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. 

 

“Excuse me! I shouldn’t have to tell them to behave, they’re grown adults!”

 

The CEO gave her a withering look.

 

“If _you_ are the standard of a grown adult, it's no wonder they behave like three-year-olds.”

 

“Hey!” The other three said simultaneously.

 

Lena simply shook her head, before becoming serious and pining Liam and Kara with a hard look.

 

“Can you two explain to me why I got a phone call from Alex in the middle of my workday. Asking me to come down to the DEO to talk you, and I quote, ‘out of some harebrained mission that will get people killed’?”

 

Liam’s face turned thunderous.

 

“And you all say I behave like a child? No, but it’s ok for her to make phone calls to my Mom asking her not to sign my permission slip to attend the field trip. I’ll have you know,” He said, pointing to Kara. “She agreed to it!”

 

Lena turned her gaze to her ex-wife’s, Kara’s posture instantly becoming defensive.

 

“Look, he’s been here getting assessed for weeks now. He’s more than capable of handling himself out there. I’ll be with him and look out for him-“

 

“I don’t need a fucking babysitter everywhere I go,” Liam grumbled, cutting in.

 

Kara gave him an annoyed look, and a flash of real anger entered her eyes.

 

“Well, then you shouldn’t have gotten involved with a terrorist organisation.”

 

Nina winced the second the words left Kara’s mouth, and the blonde looked like she wanted to kick herself for saying it. The group as a whole braced themselves for an explosion from Liam.

 

Instead, the man just stood quietly, his mouth gaping and his hand reaching subconsciously to touch his chest briefly. 

 

“Well…” he said after a pause and in a soft voice. “Fair point.”

 

Lena gave him a smile. Nina and Kia exchanged looks, and Kara looked like a stunned mullet. 

 

The silence was only broken by the brunette CEO’s unsubtle cough, drawing the attention of the group back to her.

 

“Like I said, I’m only here on what Alex told me. Which was… as usual… hardly anything. So before we point fingers, could someone please tell me what this ‘harebrained mission’ is?”

 

Kara hesitated slightly, before responding when the silence lingered.

 

“We found a lead. On Cadmus. A pet foods company, a subsidiary of Atlas.”

 

Lena’s eyes flickered to her son, who was determinedly staring at the ground.

 

“I’m assuming they’ve become active,” she said in a tight voice.

 

The blonde hero nodded in reply, her eyes also darting to Liam’s silent form.

 

“They’ve bought a warehouse in the factory district. Foxwood Petfoods.”

 

The CEO’s brow furrowed.

 

“Not Foxwood as in that old walrus Edgar? The one I managed to get rid of because he was embezzling?”

 

The taller woman shrugged.

 

“I don’t know Lena, But it seems like an awfully big coincidence. One of Lex’s old cronies, associated with Atlas and through them Cadmus. It would make sense.”  


 

Lena’s face darkened slightly.

 

“Why does this always trace back to my family name in some way? It’ll never end…”

 

Kara smiled gently, before touching Lena’s downturned chin with the tip of her finger and making her look into the blonde’s eyes.

 

“Hey now. We may be divorced, but I’m still in this with you. Just like I said when I married you. Your family name is just as much mine now.”

 

Lena’s face relaxed into a soft smile, and she became lost in the blue of Kara’s eyes briefly before Kia interrupted with a groan and an eye-roll.

 

“Ok, enough with the sappy stuff. Can we move on please?”

 

The pair startled, both tinging pink and Kara dropped her finger.

 

Lena spotted her son watching them both with a confused look, his eyes flashing with unknown emotions before settling on anger when he looked at Kara. His face turned blank, however, when he noticed Lena staring at him.

 

“What?”

 

She raised her eyebrows at his tone.

 

“So you’re going on a mission…”

 

He crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

 

“Be careful.”

 

He blinked and his posture slackened.

 

“Wait… what? That’s it?” Liam asked surprised.

 

Lena gave him a small smile.

 

“I’ll never be happy with you heading into danger, or risking your life.”

 

She looked around the group.

 

“Any of you,” she said, her eyes lingering on her daughter, before turning back to her son.

 

“But I learned long ago, never to get in between your mother and a cause. The same applies to you and your sister,” she said, giving him a tense look.

 

Lena walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

“But please be careful. Losing you once was already one time too many.”

 

He pulled her into a reassuring hug.

 

“It’ll be ok Mom. It’s only a recon mission, and from the scans, the place looks dead so it’ll probably be a dead end. The DEO isn’t worried… Kia isn’t even coming, she’s running hero patrol tonight.”

 

Kia groaned dramatically, before giving Lena a reassuring smile.

 

“How boring… probably have to rescue a few snakes from trees.”

 

Lena laughed, while Kara muttered furiously behind her while rummaging through a few containers.

 

“That happened one time! I don’t know why your mother needed to tell you that story…. constantly… when you were both children.”

 

The blonde finished her rummaging with a triumphant look, and she kicked the box gently across to Liam.

 

“Your gear, I believe.”

 

He bent to open the box and allowed a feral grin to grow on his face as he pulled out his favourite jacket and shrugged it on with a satisfied sigh.

 

Lena eyed it dubiously.

 

“That doesn’t look like it’s going to offer much protection…”

 

The bearded man looked at her incredulously.

 

“I’m literally a self-healing man! I don’t need to wear it for protection. Besides, it’s a fashion statement.”

 

Nina snorted, looking the worn leather-like jacket up and down.

 

“What’s your statement? I’m homeless and have nothing left to wear?” She said with a laugh.

 

Liam gave her an affronted look and wagged his finger at her giggles.

 

“One day, you’ll appreciate the sentimentality of things. I stole this jacket on my first ever bounty hunt, it had meaning! Besides,” he continued, reaching back into the canister and pulling out an array of small guns, alien grenades and knives.

 

“It has great storage space.”

 

* * *

 

Liam let out another loud groan, before doing another lazy check of his weapons.

 

“Tell me again, why we have to wait out here for them to do a sweep? I mean… you have super speed and could it in a fraction of the time.”

 

Kara gave him an annoyed look.

 

“Yes, and as I’ve told you five times, you can’t go in guns hot and blind. If this is a Cadmus affiliated warehouse, they likely have defended against aliens, and Kryptonians, in particular. Besides… it’s more subtle this way, and I can keep a better eye on you before you make things go pear-shaped by shooting everything in sight.”

 

“I’ll have you know,” he replied, cocking his gun. “I am the master of stealth.”

 

Kara raised her eyebrow but didn’t respond.

 

Alex’s voice sounded through their earpieces.

 

_“Ok, Alpha and Bravo teams have cleared the main floor. Supergirl and Hades, you’re clear to enter.”_

 

Liam rolled his eyes at Kara.

 

“Hades is my codename huh? Good to see ‘Agent Danvers’ is keeping her personal feelings from affecting the mission.”

 

Kara just gestured for them to move from their position and head towards the front of the warehouse. Liam was attentive, his eyes roving for the slightest sign of movement. The second that arrived inside and met up with Alex, he couldn’t help my allow a sly smile to grow on his face.

 

“And here I was thinking it was only the Luthor’s that had a flair for the dramatic… Though I must commend you for reclaiming the Greek names, how very proactive of you.”

 

Alex was about to chastise him, but Kara beat her to it. The blonde gripped his shoulder tightly, causing his eyes to narrow in annoyance.

 

“You may not like it _Hades,_ but for the duration of this mission Agent Danvers is the team leader and you will show her the respect she’s due.”

 

Liam grunted but didn’t comment back.

 

Kara turned her gaze back to her sister. 

 

“Found anything?”

 

Alex shook her head before walking further into the room. The place looked deserted, except for a few pallets of what looked like tins of dog food. 

 

“Nothing that we could see. Maybe you could do a quick-“

 

Kara scanned the factory with her X-Ray vision but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

 

“Nothing that I can see either,” she said cutting her sister off.

 

Alex nodded, before looking over Kara’s shoulder and furrowing her brow. The blonde turned as well, to find Liam lying flat on the ground with his ear against the concrete.

 

“Hades?” Kara questioned, but Liam held up his hand for silence as he concentrated. He remained in his position for a few seconds before springing to his feet while still frowning down at the ground.

 

“There’s something beneath the ground.”

 

The blonde frowned herself and did another scan, and focused her hearing before coming back empty.

 

“How do you know? I can’t hear, see of feel anything.”

 

Liam scratched the back of his neck, the now familiar itch starting up again.

 

“I can feel it,” he responded. “It’s kind of like when those Cadmus agents turned up. Except this is… louder? It’s hard to explain.”

 

Alex looked dubious, but Kara easily accepted his words. 

 

“Ok then. So there’s something down there but we don’t know what… First things first, we have to figure out a way down.”

 

Liam looked up from the ground and started scanning the walls carefully.

 

“Well, there’s got to be a door somewhere to get down there.”

 

The blonde nodded.

 

“I’ll do a quick sweep,” she said with a half grin towards Liam, that left him slightly flummoxed before he scowled as she flew off.

 

He and Alex stood awkwardly together for a few seconds before the hero returned.

 

“I managed to find a hidden stairway hidden behind lead sheeting, two actually. One on the south side and one on the north. I think they both lead in different directions.

 

Alex absorbed the information and nodded.

 

“Ok. Alpha will take the south stairs and Bravo will-“

 

“I’ll take the North,” Liam said cutting in, tightening once of his many weapon holsters. He looked up at Alex, who was glaring at him hard and he let out an exasperated sigh before shrugging his shoulders.

 

“Look, you brought me in. Let me do my job. Bravo team can handle this floor for more sweeps and I’ll take the north.”

 

Kara nodded, turning to face her sister as well.

 

“It’s ok. I’ll go with him obviously. We’ll be fine.”

 

Liam resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the woman’s insistent presence, and also held his tongue.

 

After a slight hesitation, Alex relented with a small nod. 

 

“Keep your comms on.”

 

* * *

 

“Out comms are breaking up.”

 

Liam shrugged but continued down the stairs.

 

“So? I’m not turning back just because of some signal interference. I’m sure we’re more than capable of handling ourselves.”

 

Kara grumbled but didn’t push the point. They had already scanned the first below ground floor before the comms stopped working. The place was dead and brand new. Either empty storerooms, or half-built labs that hadn’t been used yet. Nothing exceptionally dangerous in the least and from what they heard from Alpha team, it was of the same on the other side.

 

“Obviously they haven’t moved in yet to do, whatever they wanted to do. We’ve obviously caught them ahead of the game for once.”

 

The blonde frowned before she opened another door to another empty room.

 

“Don’t get cocky Liam. Cadmus isn’t stupid, and this all seems to easy to me.”

 

The bearded man hid his scoff.

 

“Sometimes a duck is just a duck, Kara.”

 

She couldn’t help the pang she felt when he called her that.

 

He pushed open the next door and they were met with their first unusual sight. If was a lab with new equipment like the rest, but this one had a pair of glass pod-like chamber in it and one had been pushed over and allowed to shatter on the ground.

 

Kara moved forward and toed through the glass.

 

“Well someone left in a hurry. What do you think Liam?” 

 

She turned when he didn’t respond, to see the man growing rapidly pale as he stared at the shattered glass on the ground.

 

“Liam?” She questioned concerned, by her son didn’t appear to hear her. 

 

The broken pod had made a feeling of uneasiness in his stomach burble up and over, suddenly filling his chest in panic and his mind became clouded.

 

 

_Pain. Agonising pain._

 

_Blinding Light._

 

_“You are Cadmus.”_

 

_Tearing in his chest while he was conscious._

 

_Screaming._

 

 

Liam refocused on the room and realised he had collapsed against the wall while Kara crouched over him with a worried look on her face.

 

“Liam? Are you ok?”

 

His scared face morphed into a snarl and he pushed her away harshly before scrambling to his feet.

 

“Get off me!” He panted out.

 

She took a few steps towards him.

 

“Liam-“

 

He turned on her sharply.

 

“For fuck's sake, can you just back off? I don’t need your fucking help. I don’t want your help. Stop trying to be something that I don’t want you to be!”

 

Kara was quiet for a few seconds.

 

“What don’t you want me to be?”  


 

He glared at her and sneered.

 

“Don’t play stupid. I’m sick of this… this hovering! Hovering of me, trying to play nice. Because you want to, what? Be my fucking mother again? WELL, YOU CAN’T! Ok? You fucking can’t. You betrayed me!”

 

Kara’s face tightened.

 

“Liam… I didn’t betray you. Son, I love you so much but-“

 

At the word son, Liam saw red. 

 

“You’ll never change, will you? You think I owe you my fucking love because we’re family. Well, real family fucking believes in each other!”

 

“I DID BELIEVE IN YOU LIAM! It’s convenient isn’t to forget that fact. After what you fucking did, an I covered it up because I believed in you! You betrayed me, not the other way around.”

 

“You know that wasn’t my fault-“

 

Kara whirled around to face her son. The mix of pure anguish, rage and loss crossing her face was so intense, Liam lost his words.

 

“You have…. You have no idea what you did to me, do you?”

 

He didn’t respond, but his face remained stoic.

 

Kara waited for a response, but in the end, her face crumbled. Liam was struck with a realisation that the blonde hero was a lot older than she looked.

 

“Everyone talks about how parents are supposed to give their children unconditional love. And I did Liam. I gave it to you. I betrayed myself, the core of who I am for you. Because you are my son and I loved you more than life. But how much am I supposed to give to you Liam? With what happened…. it felt like I sold my soul. And the only way I could live with myself for doing that, was because you WERE MY SON!” 

 

Kara was crying liberally and angrily now.

 

“But how much more was I expected to give? After I did that, and you promised me that you didn’t know what you were doing AND I BELIEVED YOU! After that… I find you with a trigger in your hand and a blown up hospital behind you.”

 

She paused in her rant, and her hand came up to cover her mouth the grief evident in her eyes.

 

“Thousands of people Liam. Thousands of people, including Rebecca. They were dead… and you had the trigger in your hand. And this time, you looked at me with eyes wide and plead that your innocent again. What did you expect me to do Liam? Trust you again? AGAIN!”

 

She shuddered at the memory and stared at him with cold eyes.

 

“While you screamed at me that you hated me. Screamed at me for not believing in you. Despised me, for not… not supporting you like a good mother should!? After what I HAD ALREADY DONE FOR YOU! While you did that, I was digging out people who had managed to survive under the rubble.”

 

Her face broke again.

 

“I can still hear their screams, Liam. That bombing haunts me as much as losing Krypton.”

 

There was silence between them, the words hanging in the air of the dank underground corridor. Her tears stopped, and she let out an exhausted sigh.

 

“What has been done to you by Cadmus. Whatever they did to you, however horrific… however horrible… Whatever life had fucking done to you, Liam. It doesn’t give you an excuse to forget what happened to other people. To sweep it away from yourself, and the excuse is that it doesn’t matter the damage they’ve suffered because you’ve suffered more.”

 

She stepped forward suddenly, and into his space, looking up into his eyes steadily.

 

“Your pain, doesn’t give you an excuse to disregard others.”

 

His face stayed blank, and he fought with every fibre of his being not to collapse in a puddle of emotion. Kara seemed to be waiting for something, but after a few more seconds of silence a disappointed look crossed her face and she stepped back.

 

“Nobody can change what happened Liam… But for whatever you think it’s worth, I am sorry. I’m sorry if I failed you. I’m sorry for what happened to you. If I could switch places with you, I would in a heartbeat… but I can’t. But I’m here now, and I want to give us a chance again. To have a real relationship again. To heal the wounds between us… not matter how long it takes. But I can’t do it alone. You need to want that too.”

 

There was another long silence before Liam finally spoke in a soft and broken voice.

 

“Somethings... should just be allowed to die.”

 

He strode forward and brushed past her.

 

They walked the next few corridors, checking rooms as they went but it was more of the same. Empty labs and storerooms that had yet to be filled. 

 

“Well….” He drawled in a tight tone after a few minutes. 

 

“I think it’s safe to say that there is nothing to be found in this place. Clearly, all we’ve done is stop them moving in not out.”

 

Kara hummed, but she still looked around the place with a suspicious look. Liam rolled his eyes and reached for the next door handle. He was stopped by Kara’s hand as she gripped it tightly, a look of uneasinesses crossing her eyes.

 

“Stop. Something’s wrong. Don’t open that door.”

 

The bearded man’s simmering agitation with the blonde woman rose once again, and he shrugged her off, before reaching for the handle once again. 

 

“Jesus, don’t be such a-“

 

“No, Liam. Wait! 

 

There was a loud click, and suddenly a force slammed him into the ground before an explosion rocked the room. The world seemed to go topsy-turvy, and everything was white.

 

The ringing in his ears slowly faded, and he was able to register shapes in his vision. He coughed. Not only was there a heavy weight on him, some sort of gas had been released in the room that was itching his lungs fiercely as they damaged and healed over at rapid speed.

 

It was a few more seconds before he heard the groaning on top of him, and looked down to see Kara’s form dropped over him protectively, blood leaking from multiple points in her back and her mouth as she coughed against the green smoke.

 

Green smoke.

 

His thoughts slammed into focus, and everything became clear in fear.

 

Liam sat up as fast, but as gently as he could, but it wasn’t enough to stop the grave scream of agony that ripped from the hero’s bloody mouth.

 

“No, NO!” He cried fast and hard into her face. Kara’s eyes were becoming glazed.

 

The bearded man tried to focus, and gather his thoughts. 

 

He picked her up, trying for his own sake to drown out her cries, and carried her out of the room and away from the gas. 

 

“No, no, no, no,” he chanted repeatedly to her, his eyes filled with worry as they darted between looking at her paling and still green streaked face, and where he was stepping.

 

“Liam….” she managed to wheeze out between tears.

 

“No, shut up! You don’t get to talk. Just shut up and focus on not dying.”

 

His words were harsh, but his eyes betrayed the panic he was feeling. After climbing up the stairs they had descended, he was finally able to get the signal back in his earpiece.

 

_“….. alpha group, I want you to-“_

 

“HELP! HELP!” He cried, cutting off the other chatter with his cry as he continued to climb.

 

“ _Liam? What’s happening?”_ Alex’s voice sounded.

 

“Please….” he begged, starting to cry as the woman in his arms breaths started to slow. 

 

“It’s Mama. There was Kryptonite. A bomb… I-“

 

_“Where are you!”_

 

He panted in exertion as he finally arrived at the main floor and burst through the doors, only to run smack bang into his redheaded aunt and her team that were ready to descend the stairs. Alex looked from his tear-stained and panicked face to the bleeding out woman in his arms. She launched into action.

 

“Stevenson, Kyle! Get me an evac now! Liam, you need to tell me everything that happened. I need to know how she got injured.”

 

“Alex….” The injured woman said with a groan, her eyes rolling in her head. She reached out blindly, scrabbling for her sister’s arm. 

 

“It…. wasn’t… his…. fault….”

 

Nobody got a chance to respond when a sudden thump sounded next to them as Kia landed. She took one look at her mother, before scooping her into her own arms and turning to Alex.

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“Take her to the infirmary. We think it’s Kryptonite. I’ll be there-“

 

Kia didn’t let her finish, before taking off.

 

The silence seemed deafening as Alex followed Kia’s flight for a few seconds. She was snapped out of her pause by a sudden urge to move. The redhead turned to face her immobile nephew, who was staring at his blood-stained hands in shock.

 

“We don’t have time for this,” she said briskly, more to herself then him. 

 

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him along to the nearest chopper.

 

* * *

 

Lena rushed to the DEO after the call.

 

That call.

 

The call she had received far too many times, and the one that always sent the same pit of dread right to the centre of her stomach and the same stab of panic straight through her mind.

 

The call that meant that someone in her family was hurt.

 

The call she always feared would mean someone in her family was dead.

 

This particular call came as she was finishing paperwork in her office. Ironically, as always before she received the call, Lena was trying to distract herself from the possibility that her ex-wife, her son or even her ex-sister in law that she was pretty sure hated her, had been hurt or killed. This call came from her ex-sister in law.

 

“ _Lena?”_

 

The CEO could hear it in Alex’s voice.

 

She dropped her pen on the desk with a soft thud, the seemed to echo. Lena shuddered and closed her eyes.

 

“Who?” He asked shakily.

 

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

 

_“Kara,”_ Alex said choking on the last letter.

 

Another pause, another shudder.

 

“Is she…”

 

_“No. She’s still alive. But she’s hurt really bad and is still in surgery. I just stepped out to call you. Before she lost consciousness she asked me to call you.”_

 

Another pause and Lena stood up from her seat and picked up her coat.

 

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

 

When she arrived, Alex was back in surgery. Jamie, Kia, Maggie, Nina and Jonn were all hovering outside the door, but as with every time Kara had been hurt, even the agents at their desks seemed to be working at half speed, eagerly waiting for updates on Superwoman’s condition.

 

The second Kia spotted, she stood up and swept her into a tight hug which Lena returned fiercely.

 

“How is she?” Lena asked the second she was let go.

 

Her daughter’s drawn face was answer enough.

 

“We don’t know entirely what happened… But it was a type of synthetic Kryptonite. She breathed it in a gas form. The molecules are clinging to her lungs, and they’re basically pumping in pure oxygen to keep her breathing and flush her lungs out. But there was also a bomb that went off, she has over thirty pieces of kryptonite shrapnel buried in her back. They’re getting it out now.”

 

Lena turned to look through the glass of the infirmary to see a scrubbed up Alex, pull a glowing piece of metal from Kara’s knocked out body.

 

She slumped into the nearest seat and held her head in her hands.

 

“And we don’t know anything that happened?” She asked softly.

 

Everyone shifted awkwardly.

 

“It was something to do with Liam… wasn’t it?”

 

Nina was the first one to speak.

 

“We don’t know anything Lena.”

 

Jamie rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh come on Nina! Don’t be naive. We all know how he felt about her, he wasn’t exactly subtle about it. Ever since he’s been back-“

 

Kia cut her off quickly and with a sharp tone.

 

“Jesus Christ Jamie, don’t be a fucking idiot. I’ve more reason than most to not trust my brother, but use your head! He’s been monitored twenty-four seven since he’s been back for starters. When the hell do you think he would have had the time to construct a fucking Kryptonite bomb? During his toilet breaks?”

 

The redhead had the sense to look embarrassed and didn’t respond. Kia turned her glare away from her cousin, and her eyes softened as she looked at her mother. She walked forward and knelt next to her, reaching to hold her hands softly.

 

“Mom…. I don’t know exactly what happened, and you know how I feel about Liam… but I don’t think he had anything to do with this.”

 

Lena looked uncertainly into her daughter’s eyes, but Kia’s face was clear and open.

 

She gave her mother a reassuring smile.

 

“He carried her out of the building Mom. If he wanted her hurt, or dead why would he have done that? And his face…. he was terrified for her Mom. The last time I saw that look on his face was when he was taken to prison. It was real fear.”

 

Lena relaxed slightly and gave Kia a small smile before reaching out to push a loose strand of hair back behind her daughter’s ear.

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

Kia’s brow furrowed slightly.

 

“For what Mom?”

 

Lena tilted her head, and her eyes teaing slightly.

 

“For ever making you feel like I loved your brother more than I loved you.”

 

Lena held back a sob.

 

“I’m so sorry darling. You truly are a gift the world, and I love you with all my heart.”

 

Kia felt a wave of emotion course through her, and a well of tears began to form in her own eyes.

 

She wiped them away furiously, making her mother laugh, and pulled Lena into another hug.

 

“I love you too, Mom,” she whispered into the green-eyed woman’s ear. 

 

Nina watched the scene with a small smile, but a flicker of worry crossed her face and her eyes darted around the room searching, but coming up short.

 

“Where did Liam go Auntie?”

 

* * *

 

He was furious. His muscles rigid and tight, as he pounded against the reinforced wall of the training room. His knuckles split and the fractures he managed to cause in his reinforced bones, healed and reopened at lightning speeds with every punch

 

But he didn’t care. Liam didn’t care about the pain or the fact that his own fresh blood was dripping over the old caked on blood from his mother’s body.

 

_His mother._

 

Liam let out a harsh cry before he threw all his weight behind his next hit, which landed with such force that even the alien hardened wall of the training room cracked. 

 

The shudder of the force ran through his body, and he suddenly felt exhausted.

 

Exhausted from the night.

 

Exhausted from his life.

 

Liam turned, rested his back against the wall and slumped to the ground and a silence filled the large room, only broken by the sound of his heavy breathing and pounding heartbeat.

 

He didn’t like the quiet. It allowed the thoughts he was trying to push down to rise again, and whirl in his mind.

 

** _The fact that she jumped in front of him._ **

 

** _Covered his body with her own._ **

 

** _Was ready to sacrifice herself for him._ **

 

** _Bleeding out, barely breathing._ **

 

** _“It’s not your fault.”_ **

 

** _But it was his fault._ **

 

He smacked his head back against the wall, causing it to bleed and heal fast.

 

His hands began to shake and his eyes began to well with involuntary tears.

 

“FUCK!!!” He screamed into the still air, as the tears began to fall hard and fast. 

 

As shudders began to run through his frame, he moved his shaking hands to cup his face.

 

“What have I done…. what have I done? I killed her… I killed my.....” he sobbed.

 

A soft voice spoke suddenly, startling him. He looked up to see an approaching Maggie. His feeling of dread alleviated slightly when she gave him a small smile. He scrubbed his face and unsteadily sprung to his feet.

 

Liam ran towards the detective and opened his mouth to ask a question, but hesitated halfway.

 

Maggie frowned at the churn of emotions that passed over her nephew’s face before he seems able to push it all done and project a blank facade.

 

She waited for him to say something, but he simply closed his mouth sharply and watched her in silence.

 

“Did you want you to know if Kara’s ok?” She asked with an edge of annoyance, as the curdles of anger began to grow in her stomach.

 

“Is she ok?” He asked in an indifferent tone, completely at odds with his tear stained face..

 

The anger increased, and her previously gentle smile fell.

 

“Are you seriously going to pretend like I didn’t just see and hear you sobbing and screaming.

 

She looked at the cracked wall with a raised eyebrow.

 

“....and letting all your frustration out.”

 

His face darkened.

 

“Is she fine or not?” Liam asked in a defensive and clipped tone.

 

Maggie paused in disbelief.

 

After a few seconds, the man rolled his eyes and turned back to the wall to resume his punching.

 

“Look, if you’re not here to tell me something-“

 

“Come with me.”

 

Liam stopped at the cold voice and turned. His aunt was looking at him with murder in her eyes.

 

“What?” He questioned.

 

If it was possible, the detective’s face darkened even further and she stepped forward and into his space. The woman was a head and a half short her than him, yet the heat rolling off her made him want to cower into a ball.

 

“Come. With. Me.” She growled, enunciating every word.

 

Her lips curled into a snarl when a flash of defiance crossed his eyes.

 

“If you don’t come with me now, you won’t like what happens next.”

 

The unknown threat managed to spark the edge of fear in his mind. 

 

Liam didn’t hesitate this time and followed behind her closely as Maggie turned and walked out of the room. She led him down a few halls until they stood outside of the room he was interrogated by Kara in. 

 

“Get in.”

 

He sighed but did as he was told. Maggie’s voice leaving no room for argument. 

 

“Sit.”

 

He sighed.

 

“Auntie, what are we-“

 

She rounded on him red-faced.

 

“I swear to fucking God,Liam. If you don’t sit the fuck down right now,e you’ll wish you never set foot back on this planet.”

 

It was cold and harsh, and it stung.

 

The tall man sat.

 

Maggie took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, before taking the seat opposite him.

 

“Tell me what happened. You disappeared the minute you arrived back here.” 

 

He huffed, and turned his eyes down to the table and paused to gather his thoughts.

 

“We…. there must have been an explosive device in one of the rooms we investigated. It… she told me not to go in…. It was Kryptonite,” he said softly, before looking up with hardness in his eyes.

 

“She jumped in front of me.”

 

Maggie lent back in her chair and looked him over in silence. Taking in his hunched shoulders and scowl.

 

Her clenched fists tightened before she let a small sigh escape her.

 

“She’s out of surgery now. They managed to remove all the shrapnel and she’s breathing on her own. But she’s still expelling the Kryptonite in her lungs, so they’re keeping her under until she does. Your mother will be fine.”

 

Maggie managed to catch the flicker of relief in his eyes before they hardened once more.

 

“Good. She made a stupid mistake, but I’m glad…. I’m glad she’s not dead,” he said in a dismissive and indifferent tone.

 

Liam looked up at her after another pause of silence, to find Maggie rotating through various levels of red.

 

“She made a stupid mistake….? A STUPID MISTAKE? THAT’S ALL YOU CAN SAY?”

 

The bearded man went to reply, but the detective held up her hand to stop him. Her face flushed with anger.

 

“No, shut up. Just shut the fuck up. You are going to listen to what someone else has to say for once.”

 

She drew a deep breath.

 

“Kara. Your _mother_ and I will _FUCKING CALL HER THAT!_ By your own admittance, your mother risked her own life to save yours. She physically blocked your body with her own, and all you say was that it was a stupid mistake?”

 

The Latina woman slammed her hand down hard on the table between them and then pointing at her nephew accusingly.

 

“I’m going to tell you a few things now, that I’m sure as shit you won’t like to hear. But it’s about fucking time someone you ‘honour by talking to’ finally tells you the truth. The people you deign to give a second glance have been giving you far too much latitude. I have been giving you far too much latitude.”

 

She fixed him with a harsh glare.

 

“Harsh truth of life Liam. No matter what has happened to you, NO MATTER FUCKING WHAT! Nothing gives you an excuse to behave like an asshole. It may explain it, but it doesn’t excuse it. You swan in here after ten fucking years away. TEN YEARS LIAM! You want us all to treat you like a new man because it’s been ten years of change for you.”

 

Maggie rapped her fingers on the table.

 

“But sunshine, those ten years weren’t rainbows and sprinkles for us either. And your mother, fucking Kara, sure didn’t have it easy either. You want to see her as the big bad wolf that ruined your life? NEWS FLASH! What happened to you ruined her's too.”

 

The detective’s eyes filled with sorrow.

 

“I wouldn’t wish the horror and pain of losing a child on my worst enemy Liam. Because that’s what happened to your mothers, they lost you and the pain that they went through when it happened.”

 

She shuddered.

 

“That bombing didn’t just destroy your life, you know… Your parents, your sister and the rest of the family… we all had to live with what you did.”

 

Liam's eyes grew wild.

 

“But I didn’t do it!”

 

She shook her head.

 

“BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE HOW IT AFFECTED US LIAM! The divide that it cause in this family. And you aren’t an innocent, you freely admitted to being involved in Cadmus Liam. Right now, I don’t give a shit how it happened, you were involved with a terrorist organisation.”

 

Liam rubbed his eyes, and the weight of the galaxy seemed to fall on his shoulders.

 

“It… it wasn’t…. They…”

 

He moved to rub the scars on his chest, then looked at her with haunted eyes.

 

“Maggie… they-“

 

She held up her hand again and looked pained.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to you. I shudder to even think about what happened to you. But you weren’t the only one who suffered Liam. YOU WEREN’T THE ONLY ONE HURT! For God’s sake, disregarding your family even, thousands of people were dead! Patients, nurses, doctors, children! All dead.”

 

“IT WASN’T MY FAULT!” He screamed, his eyes filling with tears.

 

“I didn’t…. It wasn’t my fault…" 

 

Maggie looked at him sadly but with disappointment in her eyes.

 

“Do you even care?”

 

Liam’s eyes widened, and he stared at her speechless

 

“How can you even ask that? Of course, I fucking care!”

 

His tears were unrestrained now and splashed against the metal table between them.

 

After another short silence, he spoke again and with such a broken voice, Maggie was reminded of him as a child.

 

“I see them… every night.”

 

He looked up an into her eyes, the pain and sincerity obvious.

 

“Every night I see that building falling. I lost time before…. I remember walking somewhere and then suddenly, I was holding a trigger in my hand and the building was falling.”

 

He traced his fingernails hard across his arms.

 

“It took me a few minutes to realise the screams I was hearing were my own.”

 

Maggie sighed, and when Liam looked back at her face it had changed from angry, to as distraught as his own.

 

“We’ve been running blind Tree. All of us.”

 

She looked at him, measured him.

 

“Everyone it seems, but the one person who you seem to despise more than anyone else. And we put our faith in her. Whatever you told Kara… she still trusted you.”

 

Her look sharpened once again.

 

“Didn’t you ever wonder, ever think, about why Kara hasn’t told anyone what you discussed in that room? Or were you too busy imagining her dead to care?”

 

Liam’s silence was answer enough.

 

“Thought not,” Maggie grunted. 

 

“I asked her to tell us. Alex asked her to tell us. J’onn did too. And don’t you dare look at me like I’ve betrayed your trust, Liam. I like you, and I believe you’re a good person… But just because we had a trust vote doesn’t make me stupid.”

 

Maggie started to tear.

 

“But she fucking trusted you. And the reason she wouldn’t tell us is that she didn’t want to betray _your_ trust.”

 

“Just let that rattle in your head for a second. The woman you can barely stand to be in the same room with.. didn’t want to betray _your_ trust. That same woman, the one who loved and cared for you. Raised you. Your mother jumped in front of a grenade for you.”

 

Her voice grew soft and deadly.

 

“Now ask yourself, you being the better person and all…Would you do the same for her?”

 

* * *

 

Alex walked out the surgery completely exhausted. She had managed to remove all the kryptonite shards from her sister’s body successfully, but unfortunately, the microscopic shards in Kara’s lungs were a far more difficult problem. The presence of kryptonite at all was stopping the woman’s healing, and the fact that she couldn’t heal meant she couldn’t expel the shards. Alex had made the choice to keep the blonde hero in a medically induced coma for the time being, with a continuous pump of oxygen, hoping at least to keep her out of pain until they could devise a better solution.

 

She spotted Lena, Kia, Nina and her daughter easily, waiting directly outside the medbay on fold-up chairs. They stood up immediately, Lena making her way over fast.

 

“How is she?” The CEO asked hesitantly.

 

A nasty part of Alex’s brain wanted to deny the woman who had caused so much pain to her sister the information. Purely to be spiteful.

 

But that’s not what Kara would have wanted. No matter what a piece of paper said, and even though she never said it out loud, Alex knew that in her heart Kara still saw herself as married to Lena.

 

And Alex was too tired to be petty.

 

“She’s… we managed to remove the shards, but the kryptonite in her lungs is causing a problem. She’s under for now, and stable.”

 

The small group let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

 

“Can I see her?” Lena asked pleadingly.

 

Alex frowned and shook her head.

 

“Not now. She needs to rest.”

 

The CEO stepped closer, and the grip on her handbag tightened.

 

“Please, Alex? I need to see her.”

 

The agent saw red, her mind blurred with anger and exhaustion.

 

“And what about what Kara needs Lena? Oh wait, I forgot. Your wishes and desires come before that. Just like they always have!” She snapped harshly, causing the green-eyed woman to step back, growing pale and downturn her eyes.

 

“Hey!”

 

Alex turned to see and approaching Liam and Maggie. The bearded man looked between his aunt and his mother with anger. We stepped beside his brunette mother, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

 

“Hey, are you ok?”

 

Lena barely had time to nod before Liam turned his angry gaze back to his redheaded aunt.

 

“What the fuck is your problem?”

 

Alex’s face grew thunderous.

 

“My problem?” She questioned.

 

Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“Don’t you ever talk to my mother like that.”

 

Alex saw red, and she was only vaguely aware of her wife putting a gentle hand on her arm.

 

“Alex…. don’t-“

 

“KARA IS LYING IN A MEDICALLY INDUCED COMA!” She screamed, pointing in the direction of her sister’s body. 

 

“AND YOUR FUCKING WORRIED ABOUT ME HURTING LENA’S FEELINGS?”

 

She pressed into Liam’s space, and pushed back. 

 

“You arrogant, self centred, piece of shit. She could have died, she could still fucking die! But none of that matters to you, does it? Because she doesn’t matter to you!”  


Maggie tried to cut in again.

 

“Alex, please-“

 

The redhead rounded on her wife.

 

“NO! I’ve had it up to fucking here with this crap!” She said, before turning back to face the bearded man.

 

“You treat everyone like shit, we are barely worth more than the floor your standing on. But as far as I can see Liam, since you’ve arrived, we’ve been the one doing the understanding. Your comatose mother, told us to trust you and we trusted her. The only reason you are here now is because of Kara. Because despite everything that you put her through, and how you still continue to treat her, she still loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. And now she’s lying there, because she wanted to save your life.”

 

Alex sneered and step in closer to her nephew.

 

“But none of that means shit to you. Nothing Kara ever does will hold a candle to that saint,” she said, pointing her finger at the resigned Lena.

 

Liam’s eyes darted between the two women.

 

“Don’t you-“

 

She cut over him again, and laughed humorously.

 

“And the worst part is, she does it to herself. Kara is so desperate for the love of her family, that in the end, she forgives anything you do…”

 

She turned her harsh gaze to Lena.

 

“No matter what you do, she forgives you and ends up blaming herself.”

 

“Alex. Enough!” Maggie said, in a tense voice, her eyes darting between Lena’s distraught, and Liam’s increasingly confused faces.

 

“Stop it. Kara asked us not-“

 

“Why shouldn’t he know? Why should he be protected? The rest of us have had to live with it for five years, but ever since he’s been back… AN ADMITTED MEMBER OF CADMUS! We’ve been afraid of _hurting his feelings_?” She said incredulously to her wife, before turning back to Liam with a disgusted look.

 

“I don’t care if Kara want’s to spare you the truth, I’m sick an tired of all the lies. If no one else will tell you, I fucking will.”

 

“Alex-“

 

The redhead continued to ignore her wife, before taking a deep breath and speaking slowly.

 

“Didn’t you ever wonder, why your parents got divorced?”

 

Liam felt a sinking feeling of dread, but didn’t respond.

 

“No?” His aunt questioned with a tilted head and mocking grin.

 

“Afraid of the answer? Afraid of the truth? Scared… that maybe… just maybe, it wasn’t Kara’s fault? That maybe your perfect mother, your idol and saviour… was the one who fucked it all up?”

 

Liam didn’t speak, so Alex’s nasty look turned to his CEO mother.

 

“Should you tell him? Or should I continue myself?”

 

Lena’s eyes were tearing now, and she looked at the DEO agent with a pleading expression.

 

“Alex…. please…”

 

The agent’s gaze hardened, and turned back to you nephew.

 

“The reason your parents got divorced, is because Lena had an affair. And it wasn’t just an affair, now was it Lena? No, you told my sister when she found out, that you had fallen in love with someone else.”

 

Liam was speechless, and his mind went blank. The group of people faded away, and he turned to look at his tear stained mother.

 

“Is that true? Did…did you have an affair?”

 

Her face crumbled, and that was all the answer he needed.

 

The events of the last hour, days, weeks, months and years seemed to all crash in his mind at the same time. A crash of exhaustion swept over him and he closed his eyes absorbing it all, and feeling overwhelmed.

 

He felt his mother’s gentle touch on his elbow, and he yanked his arm back as if he had been burned.

 

“Liam….” She said pleadingly, but he shook his head in response and stepped back.

 

He paused for a few seconds before the chaos in his eyes faded into despair.

 

“….sometimes, I forget.”

 

His eyes moved over the small group of people.

 

“That no matter what any of us do, or don’t do. You're always going to disappoint me.”

 

He turned to look after Kara’s figure in the infirmary.

 

“And no matter what… I’m always going to fail you.”    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL, THERE YOU HAVE IT! BOOM! 
> 
> .....though things are not always what they appear, and despite what Alex thinks, not everything is black and white. ;) 
> 
> Anyway, let me know if you enjoyed :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I got it out as fast as I could, so I guess I'm still kinda on schedule. Anyway, let me know what you think :)

J’onn sat in silence, given the redhead opposite a long and hard glare.

 

Alex had managed to remain stoic for the first five minutes, but slowly she was starting to fidget in the increasing silence and the martian’s hard glare.

 

“Look-“ she began but was cut off quickly by the man’s hand slamming on the table between them.

 

“So… Agent Danvers…tell me how is it that I leave you in charge of the DEO for a day…A DAY!And in the course of that day, you manage to instigate a full blown mission into a Cadmus associated base, which somehow leaves Supergirl in a medically induced coma due to Kryptonite exposure AND yet again, involve this whole government division in yet another one of your family disputes because once again you can’t control your temper.”

 

“…we’re taking her out of the coma-“

 

“Not the point, Agent Danvers!” J’onn said, cutting in again with a hard glare. He maintained it for a few more seconds before releasing a sigh, slumping in his chair and rubbing the sides of his head.

 

“Alex, I’ve known you for many years now. You know I love you and Kara like my own daughters. So over the years I’ve given you both a certain amount of leeway when it comes to bringing your family dramas into work. But last night was the last straw.”

 

J’onn stood up, and towered over her.

 

“I can not have the acting director start a family dispute in the middle of the DEO! Ever since Liam came back, you have been behaving more and more like the person I first bailed out of that jail cell so many years ago, and less like the mature, capable and clearheaded agent I know you to be. Instead of squabbling and attempting to cause discourse, I would have hoped your focus would have been on what exactly happened in that factory.”

 

“Sir, I-“

 

He held up a hand, stopping her.

 

“I understand that you were scared about Kara, but that doesn’t excuse your juvenile behaviour. You want to yell at people in your family? Do it somewhere else. For now, though, I think you need to take a few days to cool off and get your mind right.”

 

“But sir-“

“This discussion is over Agent Danvers.”

* * *

 

It was the quiet beeping sound that first woke Kara up. 

 

Her eyelids fluttered, and she became aware of the burning sensation in her lungs that was making it difficult for her to draw in every breath. There were several sharp pains in her back and her limbs felt… sluggish.

 

And she felt exhausted.

 

Normally sensations she was used to experiencing after a solar flare, but she didn’t think she’d…

 

Her eyes flew open wide, and they focused on the metallic ceiling above her. 

 

At the spike in her heart rate, a dozing Maggie jolted awake and gripped onto the blonde’s shoulders as she tried futilely to scrabble at the oxygen mask over her mouth.

 

“Woah there Little Danvers. Relax, it’s ok.”

 

Kara’s blue eyes zoned in on the detective’s face, and her heartbeat dropped slightly. She weakly moved her hand to grasp the other woman’s wrist.

 

“Mag….di’… Liam…?” The blonde said with a weak gasp.

 

The shorter woman held her hand softly and sat down again on the stool next to the bed.

 

“Ok, ok relax Kara. Just relax, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

 

The hero nodded, but her eyes remained slightly panicked.

 

Maggie took a deep breath.

 

“Liam’s fine, ok? You shielded him from the bomb, and he doesn’t have a scratch on him. His healing abilities, expelled the microscopic shards in his lungs pretty fast and the shards only hit you anyway, and we managed to get those out. But it was Kryptonite Kara. A new kind.”

 

The detective looked at her worriedly. 

 

“It’s not completely organic or synthetic. Apparently, it’s not just a chemical compound. It looks almost… mechanical. It’s like it tried to burrow further and further into your body. Fortunately, it looks like whatever it is shorted or something, but we’re still left with the problem of how to extract it. And as long as even particles of it are still in your system, you’re having trouble healing. Which is probably why you’re feeling a fair bit of pain in your back. We’ve had you hooked up,” she added, tapping Kara’s oxygen mask.

 

“For about twelve hours now.”

 

Kara nodded again, absorbing the information. She paused for a few seconds and took in Maggie’s drawn expression. The blonde tapped her finger against the Latina woman’s hand to draw her attention.

 

“Wha'… wron’…’ere…. Ale’….?” She said, somewhat unintelligible.

 

The dark-haired woman frowned.

 

“What’s wrong? Where’s Alex?” She repeated back and at the taller woman’s nod, her face fell once more.

 

“At the moment, I’m pretty sure she’s getting chewed out by J’onn but I’m not entirely sure… as she’s been avoiding me since she finished your surgery. There was…. an incident afterwards.”

 

The woman must have seen the questions in the blonde’s eyes because she sighed once again before looking at her contemplatively.

 

“You really should be resting…,” she said unconvincingly. 

 

The hero gave her a look, and the brunette relented.

 

“Ok, but try not to freak out. Alex kind of went off her nut at Liam. And she told him about Lena’s affair.”

 

The blonde blinked, before letting out a pained groan and slumping back completely against her pillows while shaking her head at the ceiling.

 

Maggie gave her a look of sympathy.

 

“Look, Kara, as pissed off as I am at my wife for what she did…. Even though her delivery of the news was spectacularly bad and mistimed, at least it’s out in the open.”

 

The blonde tilted her head to stare the detective, before pulling the mask off her face.

 

“No, no, don’t-“ Maggie tried to say before she was interrupted by a cough and the blonde’s raspy voice. 

 

“It… wasn’t…. her… decision… to… make….Maggie….”

 

“I know, I know,” the other woman said while trying desperately to wrestle the mask back onto the blonde’s face. 

 

Kara resisted, clenching onto the mask with all of her limited strength.

 

“Where…is…..Liam…..Lena….Kia… where… is… my… family…?”

 

The detective huffed.

 

“I’ll tell you Little Danvers, but you’ve got to let me put the mask back on.”

 

The blue-eyed woman relented and allowed her sister-in-law to take the mask from her fingers. After it had been settled on her face, and the blonde had taken a greedy gulp of air, Maggie finally relaxed and gave the hero an exasperated look.

 

“What is with Danvers women? You think the only way to get attention is by risking your life or pissing off the whole world!”

 

Kara was having none of it and simply gave the detective a hard look telling her to hurry up.

 

“Ok, fine!” Maggie said, raising her hands. 

 

“After Alex’s… well meltdown, everyone kind of scattered. Liam disappeared back down to the bowels of the DEO. I’m pretty sure he found an empty room to curl up in for the night, the kid looked pretty exhausted. Lena, she vanished the second Liam took off. I’m pretty sure she went back to work. Which, if my memory serves me, is her version of drowning her sorrows. Kia looked pretty conflicted about the whole thing… so she went to actually drown her sorrows at the bar. Nina wanted to go after Liam, but Kia and I talked her out of it so that he could have some space. Gary turned up right about then, and was also advised to give your son some space so Kia dragged Nina who dragged Gary, much to Kia’s annoyance I think, to the bar as well.”

 

The blonde nodded and tapped Maggie’s wrist again.

 

“I… nee’… to… spea’… to…. them….”

 

The detective was in the midst of shaking her head when the doors slid open to reveal an exhausted-looking Alex. Her eyes lit up slightly when she saw that Kara was awake but grew downcast again at the twin glares been given to her by her wife and her sister.

 

Kara tapped the detective’s wrist again.

 

“…A… minu’…. wi’…my….sis’er?”

 

The brunette nodded and stood to leave. She stopped in front of her wife, and the redhead averted her eyes away from the brunette’s ferocious look.

 

“…you and I are going to talk later,” Maggie said icily, before turning on her heel and exiting the room.

 

Alex’s eyes turned from the floor and looked at Kara with trepidation.

 

The blonde was half ready to rip the mask from her face and tear her sister a new one herself, but before she did the other woman had collapsed on the stool next to her and leaned so her forehead rested on the bed. 

 

The blonde began to feel quiet sobs vibrated across the mattress and her anger abated slightly. Instead of yelling, she let out a quiet sigh and closed her eyes tight, before lifting the mask gently from her face,

 

“Alex….”

 

At the sound of her name, the other woman’s head jerked up, her eyes still shiny, and moved quickly to place the oxygen back over Kara’s mouth. The blonde hero waved her away.

 

“Alex…. stop…. if I…. need….it….I’ll….put….it…on…,” she said in a raspy voice.

 

She coughed twice, and allowed herself one deep breath of the ventilator and went to speak again before being cut off by her sister.

 

“I thought I was going to lose you this time, Kara.”

 

Kara’s hard look softened somewhat, but she still shook her head.

 

“You…. know… I… love…you… Alex….But…I… asked…you-“

 

“I know, Kara… I know….” The redhead said, cutting her sister off with a sigh.

 

Her gaze grew withdrawn and seemed to stare at something far in the distance.

 

“I remember what you were like though Kara. When I opened my door and you all but collapsed into my arms. What she did to you… it nearly killed you.”

 

Kara gathered her thoughts before replying.

 

“Alex….what…you…did…was…wrong. Despite…what…you…think…you…don’t…know…everything… about.. it…And…I… asked… you… not… to… say… anything… You…knew…how…I…felt…about…it. And…no…matter…what…you…say…you…did…it…to…make…yourself…feel…better…not…for…me.”

The blonde took a deep gulp of air from her mask and moved her arm away when the redhead went to reach for it.

 

“I…think…you…should…go…” she said, trailing off.

 

The redhead paused, her eyes conflicted and watery, but she eventually stood and left the room silently.

 

Kara felt a pang of guilt, but it was soon drowned in her need for sleep and she slowly felt her eyes droop closed.

 

* * *

 

She woke up again, this time to the pain in her chest. Kara let out a rumbling cough and scrambled to sit up while her eyes came into focus. A cool hand on her shoulders helped to steady her and handed her a paper cup of water. 

 

The blonde ripped her mask off and took a greedy gulp which managed to settle her cough, even if the pain in her chest remained. 

 

“You know, it would have been far more glamorous for the bomb to kill you outright than to die wheezing with water dribbling out of your nose,” a deep voice said wryly.

 

Kara lifted her hand to check her nose, which was dry. She turned her gaze to find a tired-looking Liam sitting in the chair next to her. 

 

They both sat in silence for a minute, holding each other’s gazes, before she slumped back against her pillows and he let out a breath.

 

“I wasn’t planning on dying at all, truth be told,” she replied and was slightly surprised that her voice was coming out smoother then before, if still raspy.

 

“Could’ve fooled me,” he responded softly, before staring at her with a searching look.

 

“Why did you jump in front of me?” He asked.

 

A small silence stretched between them before she replied.

 

“You know why.”

 

He nodded, and his eyes turned down to his hands and he laced his fingers together.

 

“You shouldn’t have done it.”

 

Kara didn’t think in the entire time since Liam had been back, that she’d ever heard him sound so defeated. Even at the height of his exhaustion during his interview, a trace of defiance could be heard in his voice.

 

“Maybe I just thought this would be a good way to have a conversation with you,” she replied, her voice tinged with humour as the corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

 

His eyes darted upwards at that, and a flash of anger passed through them that was quickly squashed and replaced with wariness.

 

Kara sighed, well as well as she was able without coughing up a lung.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me… about Mom. About the reason, you got divorced?”

 

She eyed him and weighed her next words carefully before she spoke.

 

“Why didn’t you ask? You could’ve asked anyone…But you didn’t,” she responded softly, her eyes tracing up and down his figure.

 

He looked at her with a desperate edge in his eyes, so she relented and answered first.

 

“I didn’t… it’s not in me to be cruel Liam. When you first arrived, my top priority wasn’t to rub in your face that your mother had an affair. Our marriage was breaking apart a long time before that…Your aunt, well you know how Alex is. She knows that the divorce was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. It’s easier for her to latch onto Lena as the enemy when she is anything but.”

 

Kara looked at her son steadily.

 

“You more than most people should understand that people aren’t simple. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone is capable of greatness. Your mother is a good person, Liam. One of the best people I know. The number of people she has helped in her life, the things she has done for the world! And she loves you, Liam. Losing you… it killed us both. In different ways, but it did. We pulled away from each other and more importantly we pulled away from ourselves. The people we truly are. The reason I didn’t tell you… and the reason I asked nobody to say anything, was because once you were settled all you had was your mother. And I didn’t want to soil that relationship. Even when I was angry with you…. it’s not in me to be cruel.”

 

Liam hesitated before speaking.

 

“I didn’t..…” he spoke softly. “The reason I didn’t ask wasn’t that I was afraid of her being in the wrong. If I’m being honest, I don’t hate her for having an affair. I mean, how could I? I wasn’t even here and it would be…. slightly hypocritical for me to stand on a moral soapbox.”

 

He looked at her then, and his mouth twitched upwards.

 

“Even if that would fit the pattern around here.”

 

Kara rolled her eyes but conceded the point with a slight nod.

 

“Then why didn’t you ask?”

 

He paused again, and his eyes darted before focusing on her face, his eyes turning serious.

 

“I was afraid to hear something that would make me feel sorry for you.”

 

She let out a breath.

 

“I see.”

 

He shook his head furiously.

 

“No, you really don’t.”

 

He stood up abruptly and began to pace before turning and pointing a finger at her.

 

“I’ve hated you for so long.”

 

The bearded man’s eyes began to water, and he touched his chest gingerly.

 

“Because as long as I hated you…. I could forget how I felt about myself.”

 

Kara sat up higher in bed.

 

“Liam-“ 

 

“No,” he said, shaking his head and cutting her off. “You don’t understand, because I’m still so angry at you. I look at you, and I see regret and pain. I see all the things I did, the horrible things I helped happen reflected in your eyes and I hate you for it.”

 

A few tears slipped down his cheeks, and he sat down on the stool next to her with a shaky breath.

 

“But… when you were lying over me. And for a second I thought you were dead…. I couldn’t see that when I looked at you. And I couldn’t feel any anger.”

 

Liam looked up and into Kara’s eyes, before reaching a trembling hand out and taking hers gently.

 

“All I could feel was fear. Fear that I would lose you. And I couldn’t see the woman I hated… the person I’d built up in my head. I could just see you, in my arms. Dying… And all I felt in that moment was fear. Fear that I would lose my Mama.”

 

The tears were falling freely down his face now, and he rested his head against her mattress and released loud sobs.

 

“I’m sorry Mama, I’m so sorry…. I don’t know…I don’t know what I am anymore…. Everything is just so wrong now…”

 

She felt a pain clench her heart.

 

For her son, for herself. 

 

For her family and for their lives.

 

Her own tear began to fall, and she lifted the hand that he wasn’t holding shakily to rest on top of his head.

 

“Oh…Liam…” she said with a trembling sigh, before starting to cough and scrabble for the oxygen mask. 

 

He lifted his head with a start and helped place it over her face as gently as he could. Kara took a few gulping breaths, and he continued to hold her hand tight. 

 

Liam ran a hand down his face and wiped away his tears fast.

 

“And on top of everything else,” he said with a choked voice. “I almost managed to kill you last night.”

 

She shook her head vehemently.

 

“I’ wasn’ your faul’ Liam,” she said muffledly.

 

He gave her a wry smile.

 

“As much as I appreciate the empathy, we both know it was. I should have listened to you. If I wasn’t such an asshole, you wouldn’t be lying in this hospital bed right now.”

 

She pulled the mask back off her face.

 

“Liam… if you’d listened to me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I don’t know about you, but I would gladly take kryptonite shrapnel and difficulty breathing in exchange for the chance to speak to you like this.”

 

“Like what?” He responded with a roll of his eyes. “In this complicated, ridiculous, fucked up scenario where I’m bawling my eyes out?”

 

“No,” she responded gently. “A chance to speak with you, without you looking at me like I’m lying.” 

 

He opened his mouth to respond but closed it just as fast. He let go of her hand after a few seconds and pulled it back towards himself.

 

“Well, at this point expecting total honesty from other members of this family would be incredibly stupid.”

 

“Well… don’t you think it might be nice to change that?”

 

He gave her a sharp look, and his eyes became dark.

 

“You and I both know, that’ll never be possible.”

 

The pain grew in his eyes before he spoke again softly.

 

“How did you manage to live with yourself afterwards?” He asked desperately, his eyes searching her own for the answer.

 

She turned her head, becoming lost in painful memories.

 

“Not well,” she finally responded in a choked voice.

 

“I used to ask myself every day if I did the right thing.”

 

“But not anymore?”

 

She smiled bitterly and turned her eyes back to him.

 

“I stopped because if I didn’t, I would spend my life questioning myself. Questioning the what if’s and the what could have been’s… I would spend my life hating myself, and what good what that do anyone? No, all I can do is repent in the best way I know how. To help as many people as I can, in any way I can. And as much as it kills me..,” she said with a shudder.

 

“I choose to believe that I couldn’t have changed anything. It was harder before when I thought you had destroyed the hospital. I felt like I was lying to myself. But now… now I know that the telling the truth would have just caused more pain. Even now… what would happen? You would be sent to prison for sure. Left to rot, and this family would be torn apart again.”

 

Liam looked up and laughed without humour.

 

“I don’t think that it’s even possible to make this family more divided.”

 

“Is that what you think? Liam since you’ve been back, your mother has removed herself from her self-imposed banishment. A banishment, she put on herself for what she did. After ten years, Kia has finally made a friend. She and Lena are talking again. Lena and I are talking again. Nina has been given a chance to step out of her family’s shadow. You coming back hasn’t brought the pain back to our lives Liam, it’s merely uncovered what was already there, What you arriving has done, is force us all to re-evaluate what’s important to us. We can’t change the past. No amount of wishing, anger or guilt will change it. All we can do is be the best versions of ourselves now so that our futures can be a little bit brighter. We all have to let go of the past because the only thing that really matters is what we choose to be now.”

 

Liam pondered her words for a few moments, before looking at her with a conflicted expression.

 

“You know… I think I missed you.”

 

She let out a soft laugh and took another deep breath of oxygen when the irritation in her lungs grew again.

 

“I missed you too.”

 

He stared at her, before reaching for the collar of his shirt. 

 

Kara took a sharp breath as he pulled out the necklace she had him. He lifted it carefully over his head and placed in on the mattress between them.

 

“It won’t be easy… I know it won’t be easy… It seems so simple in here. I’m an emotional wreck, and you’re half dead,” he said with a quirk of his lips.

 

She let out a wheezy chuckle.

 

“But when the dust settles… Literally… And we both go and become an asshole again, and you get all self-righteous on me… It’ll be easier for me to hate you. But…”

 

He looked into her eyes, before picking up her hand, lacing their fingers and placing it on the necklace between them.

 

“I want to try… to not.”

 

She smiled and squeezed their joined hands tighter.

 

“So do I.”

 

* * *

 

Lena was sitting at her desk, finishing the next stack of paperwork someone else could have easily done when she heard a soft knock on her door office. She looked up with a start and dropped her pen in shock. 

 

Her son stood in the doorway, an unreadable look on his face.

 

“Liam…,” she said with surprise, before standing hastily. The brunette moved from behind her desk and made to walk towards him, but stopped halfway.

 

“What are you…. I’m sorry, I just didn’t-“

 

“Expect to see me?” Liam finished, before stepping forward slowly.

 

She didn’t answer, but a slight flush grew in her cheeks.

 

He stopped in front of her and gave her a blank look.

 

The CEO scrambled for words and averted her eyes from his.

 

“Liam-“

 

“I talked to Mama. She’s been falling in and out of sleep and she’s still having some trouble breathing on her own, but she said she was feeling better than she did a few hours ago. I think she wants to see you.”

 

Lena was taken aback by his familiar tone.

 

“Did you just-“

 

“We had a long talk,” he replied, cutting her off again and taking a seat on the couch with a sigh while staring at the ceiling. 

 

“I told her I wanted to try and… I don’t really know. Rebuild? I know it’ll never be the same…it’ll be different. Maybe it’ll be a good different though.”

 

She sat down on the other end of the couch and drew a shaky breath before smiling uncertainly.

 

“Liam, I think that’s”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me why you got divorced?” He interrupted again, still staring at the ceiling.

 

She gapped for a minute, before swallowing hard.

 

“I didn’t want to lose you.”

 

He raised an eyebrow and turned his head to stare at her.

 

“Why on Earth did you think you would lose me?”

 

Lena blinked in shock at his amused tone. The bearded man sat up straighter and stared at her with a quirked eyebrow.

 

“Mom, I’m literally the least qualified person to judge anyone.”

 

He shook his head slightly, before reaching over an gripping her hand lightly.

 

“And in all honesty… The only people who should have an opinion, or a say, when it comes to your’s and Mama’s relationship is you and Mama. What Alex did was a shitty thing to do, and from what I hear J’onn and Mama told her off… plus I’m pretty sure she’s going to be sleeping on the couch forever the way Auntie Maggie was looking at her.”

 

Lena started to cry and the dark-haired man pulled her into a tight hug.

 

“Oh, Mom… Don’t cry…”

 

“I can’t help it,” she sniffled.

 

Liam patted her back.

 

“I understand… Menopause, right?”

 

She pulled away and gave her smirking son a disgusted look.

 

“One more misogynistic comment from you mister, and you’ll see how lucky you’ll be wishing you were still sleeping on the couch." 

* * *

 

The next time Kara woke up, she felt much better. There was still a dull ache in her lungs, but it was far better than before even if her back continued to sting.

 

“Hey there, stranger.” a melodic voice sounded from next to her.

 

She turned her head, to find an exhausted-looking Lena on the stool next to her.

 

“Hi,” Kara replied back, giving the brunette a tired smile. “How long have you been sitting there?”

 

The CEO shrugged.

 

“Not that long…”

 

Kara raised an eyebrow, and the brunette let out a sigh.

 

“A few hours then… Liam came to my office to talk. He said you wanted to see me.”

 

The blonde tilted her head slightly, and the CEO let out a groan.

 

“He lied to me, didn’t he… Well, I’ll just head off then…”

 

“No!” Kara said quickly, reaching for Lena’s wrist. “Don’t go. I’m… really happy you came to see me.”

 

She sat back down uncertainly.

 

“Truthfully, I was a little terrified to come back… Thought Alex might be waiting with a machete.”

 

Kara scowled.

 

“If she knows whats good for her she’ll leave you alone.”

 

Lena shook her head.

 

“Don’t be mad at her Kara. She loves you, she was just-“

 

The blonde cut her off with a ‘tsk’, and reached to grip the brunette’s hand.

 

“Don’t say she said it because she loves me. She said it because she was angry.”

 

Lena’s eyes started to tear/

 

“She has a right to be. Kara… what I did-“ 

 

“Hey…” The blonde hero interrupted, giving her ex-wife’s hand a tight squeeze. “No, she didn’t. But I really don’t want to talk about it right now…. I’m just really glad that you came. Even if Liam had to lie to get you to do so,” she with a gentle smile.

 

Lena returned the smile tightly before she retracted her hand and the blonde’s eyes flashed with disappointment. They sat in silence for a few minutes before the CEO spoke again.

 

“So.. you two are talking, huh?”

 

Kara smiled.

 

“Yeah… if I’d known that all it’d take was almost dying I would have breathed in some kryptonite weeks ago.”

 

Lena groaned.

 

“How is it you can joke about this?”

 

“Because if I didn’t laugh about it, I’d spend my entire life curled into a ball at home.”

 

“Well, it might be a good thing for you to take some time off,” Lena said gently.

 

Kara sighed, aware again of the pain in her chest and back.

 

“I think I won't have much of a choice this time. I don’t think I’ll be up and about flying any time soon. I’ve been prescribed rest and relaxation until they figure out how to get to get the Kryptonite completely out. Until then, I’m on bed rest.”

 

Lena frowned.

 

“So you’ll be staying in the med bay?”

 

“Sweet Rao, no,” the blonde said with an exasperated groan. “The way people parade in and out of here, I’ll never get any solid sleep.”

 

“Well, who are you staying with?”

 

The blue-eyed woman shrugged.

 

“Well I don’t really feel like staying with my sister right now, so I guess I’ll just go back to my own apartment.”

 

Lena’s eyebrows raised and she shook her head.

 

“Are you kidding? You need to be monitored!”

 

Kara shrugged again.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll get Kia to check up on me.”

 

Lena looked at her like she was mad, and pulled out her phone and began to furiously text.

 

“No way. I’m not going to let you go back to an empty apartment. You’ll come and stay with me.”

 

The hero let out a laugh.

 

“No offence Lena, but I’m pretty sure you’re full up as it is. You already have Liam sleeping on the couch, I don’t think you’ll have room for one more in your apartment.”

 

The CEO looked up from her phone with a sheepish expression.

 

“Well, actually… I’ve bought a new place. A bigger place. Liam needs a proper room, and I’m starting to feel like I’m climbing the walls. The deal just went through today and I wasn’t planning to leave yet, but I can rush the move.” 

 

Kara stared at the brunette, and Lena started to fidget under her gaze.

 

“I mean.. you’d have your own room, but if you don’t want to I completely understand. I can organise a nurse to stay with you instead-“

 

The blonde cut her off with a smirk.

 

“Is this you asking me to move in with you?” She teased.

 

The CEO blushed and looked flustered.

 

“No! I just don’t want you to be alone when you should be monitored-“

 

“Lena,” the hero said again, cutting her ex off by gripping her hand. “It’s fine.”

 

The brunette awkwardly shuffled in her seat.

 

“So… does that mean…?”

 

Kara sighed.

 

“Lena, Liam and I just started talking again… I think it might be-“

 

“He’d be sleeping in his room, and you’d be sleeping in your's Kara. And it’ll only be for a couple of days until you’re feeling better.”

 

They stared at each other for a minute, and the blonde was transported back to a time when both of them used to dance around each other, terrified that the other one might not be interested in them _that_ way.

 

“Well…” Kara said with false confidence. “As long as it’s ok with Liam and Nina.”

 

Lena smiled, and the blonde felt her heart lighten.

 

“Ok then,” the brunette said, hesitating before she stood. “I better go then and get things organised and leave you to get some more rest.”

 

The blonde reached for the brunette’s wrist again.

 

“No! I mean…. you don’t have to go. Just… stay with me,” Kara said, eyeing the brunette with trepidation.

 

The CEO hovered but caved under the hero’s pleading look.

 

“Ok,” she said, sitting down with a small smile. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”

 

Kara smiled and paused before she gently tugged on the brunette’s hand.

 

“You know… you look pretty tired yourself… and I don’t want you to get a bad back falling asleep on that stool…”

 

Lena sighed.

 

“Kara…” she said uncertainly.

 

“Come on Lena. There’s plenty of room…”

 

“I don’t think-“

 

“Lena,” The blonde interrupted, giving the brunette her best pout. “A beautiful, bed ridden woman has just asked you to cuddle with her. The only appropriate response to that question is to do what she asked.”

 

The brunette’s eyes were still uncertain, and the blonde let out a dramatic sigh.

 

“I could have died Lena… Maybe I still will… Would you deny me my last wish?” 

 

The brunette rolled her eyes, but her shoulders relaxed and she let out a laugh.

 

“Your being unfair, you know I can’t resist it when you give me that puppy dog face.”

 

Kara scooted over excitedly and pulled back the sheets. Lena removed her heels with a small groan, and curled into the space next to the blonde, her head resting on the other woman’s shoulder. She couldn’t help the contented sigh that escaped her lips when her ex wife wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

 

They lay in silence for a few minutes, their breaths evening out and falling in sync.

 

Lena’s eyes began to flutter closed, when she felt Kara breathe out a soft whisper next to her ear.

 

“I’ve missed this.”

 

The brunette stiffened slightly, and the blonde let out a soft sigh.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t apologise. You shouldn’t be the one apologising,” Lena replied softly.

 

The blonde tightened her arm around the CEO’s shoulder.

 

“Ok,” she replied simply.

 

A silence drifted between the two of them for a few more minutes, before the brunette let out a whiper of her own.

 

“I’ve missed this too.”

 

Kara’s lips quirked into a soft smile.

 

* * *

 

Liam walked into the familiar bar and a wave of nostalgia washed over him. The place hadn’t changed in all the years he’d been away. Same faded look.

 

Same old booths.

 

And the same sleeping drunks, he thought wryly as his eyes rested in the snoring forms of Nina and Gurtag, slumped over a table next to each other. A part from them, the bar was mostly empty. Save from a single bartender and his sister, who sat on the end on the bar nursing a glass of purple liquid in her hands with a blank expression.

 

He walked towards the bar and pulled up the stool next to her. The bartender wandered over and placed a coaster in front of him.

 

“What can I get you doll?”

 

Her gave her a charming smile.

 

“Just a club soda, thanks.”

 

Kia was surprised when the usually grumpy Jen, poured his drink with a smile and a wink of her double lidded eye.

 

“There you go handsome.”

 

He nodded his thanks, and Kia rolled her eyes.

 

Liam noticed the look she was giving him.

 

“What?” He questioned cluelessly.

 

She let out an exasperated huff, before turning her gaze back to her drink. They sat in silence for a few minutes, before she let out a small sigh and turned to look at him with tired eyes.

 

“What do you want, Liam?” Kia asked exhaustedly.

 

His eyes flicked from her’s, to the Gary’s sleeping form.

 

“Maggie told me you’d all headed down to the bar, and I must confess I had to see it for myself. The way you looked at Gary the other morning, I’m surprised his still breathing right now.”

 

Kia let out a puff of air, but the corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

 

“Yeah, well when he isn’t talking out of his arse he’s an ok drinking companion.”

 

Liam nodded, and his eyes racking over Nina’s slumped figure next, laughing slightly when she started to drool onto the martian’s hand.

 

“I see you managed to drink both them under the table.”

 

“Pretty easy feat,” she grunted, running her finger along the edge of her glass. 

 

“Your boy there is all talk anyway, and I’ve had years of practice. As for Nina…” she trailed off, spinning around on her stool so she could see the other woman properly.

 

She smiled.

 

“I’m pretty sure she’s still drunk from our session the other night.”

 

Liam eyed his sister appraisingly.

 

“Since when have you two been so buddy-buddy anyway?”

 

Kia raised her eyebrow.

 

“Why? You jealous that I’m stealing your friend?” The hero said with amusement.

 

His eyelid twitched, and he started to frown.

 

“We’re not exactly braiding each others hair, Kia…. But it wouldn’t be the first time I was close to someone, only for you to swoop in and steal the limelight.”

 

“Oh, grow up,” she snapped before draining her drink. “Rebecca and I fell in love. We didn’t get together to spite you. And as for Nina, she’s a nice person… and it might come as a shock to you that’s she’s perfectly capable of making her own decisions about who she associates with.”

 

Another silence fell, before he let out a sigh.

 

“I know, I’m sorry alright? I know I’m a dick. I just… it’s been a long day.”

 

She looked him over carefully.

 

“Don’t blame the day for your behaviour Liam. You’re always a dick,” Kia responded dryly.

 

He let out a laugh, before tracing a groove in the bar with his finger.

 

“Still… seeing Mama like that, then getting chewed out by Maggie. Then the thing with Auntie Alex… It’s just… it’s been a lot.”

 

The blue-eyed woman stared at him, with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

 

“So, you’re calling her mama again, huh?”

 

He nodded.

 

“Well… I guess she’ll be happy about that then.”

 

Another silence stretched, before he spoke again in a soft voice.

 

“Why didn’t you say anything to me about the affair? No offence, but if anyone wanted to drive a wedge between me and Mom it would be you.”

 

She gave him an annoyed loo.

 

“Right,” she drawled sarcastically. “Becasue it’s all about you, isn’t it? Jesus christ Liam, can’t you ever just pull your head out of your own ass for one minute? Why the hell would I want to drive a wedge between you and Mom? For your information, it’s not something I particularly like to talk about. It was painful enough when it happened and in the end, it has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

 

She let out a huff.

 

“Well, that’s not true,” he responded. “It effects us all-“

 

“And how did it affect you Liam, hmm? You weren’t here when it happened? No, you were off in space leaving this crater of disaster here behind.”

 

“Ok!” He snapped back, before putting his head in his hands. “I get it, ok?”

 

Another pause stretched in the conversation, before Kia let out a heavy sigh.

 

“Look… you do know that their divorce had nothing to do with you either, right? I mean, well you certainly added a fucking mountain of shit onto all our lives, but in the end, Mom and Mama’s actions are entirely their own, ok?”

 

He let out a groan.

 

“I must lot really pathetic if you’re trying to comfort me,” he said, muffledly into his hands.

 

Kia shrugged, and gestured for another drink.

 

“I can’t help, I guess. Clearly, your wounded animal look has gotten to such a point that even me, with the heart of ice, can’t resist giving you a bit of sympathy.”

 

He let out a sigh.

 

“What a pair we make, huh?”

 

She took a long sip of her new drink.

 

“Yep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know :)
> 
> By the by, the whole situation with Alex will be explored a lot more next chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back people :) After a hectic month, we shall finally be returning to regular weekly updates. Hope you guys enjoy!

Alex Danvers was sleeping in.

 

Well, she was still in bed at ten-thirty in the morning.

 

Staring at the ceiling, contemplating the benefits of remaining in bed versus having to get up and handle the bullshit that was waiting to fall on her the second she slipped out from the sheets.

 

At least as long as she remained here she didn’t have to deal with… everything that she was too pissed, tired, angry and frustrated at.

 

The door to the room opened up, letting a ray of light enter the curtained off room that fell across her face.

 

“Hey, you still alive in there?”

 

Alex didn’t reply for a few seconds.

 

“Yeah,” she finally breathed out.

 

“Mind if I join you?”

 

The redhead pushed the sheets back, and she felt the mattress dip as her wife crawled in beside her and pulled the blankets back over them both. Maggie turned in the bed and faced her wife, even as the redhead continued staring up at the ceiling.

 

“Holding up ok?” The Latina woman breathed out, watching her wife’s chest rise and fall slowly.

 

The agent sighed and turned in the bed herself, so she could face the detective.

 

“Not really,” she whispered, before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh.

 

“I’m getting too old for this Mags.”

 

“What?” The other woman replied with a smile. “Sleeping in?”

 

Alex rolled her eyes and fixed her long-time wife with a glare.

 

“Joke all you like, but I’m exhausted. I’m finished. I’m done.”

 

Maggie didn’t reply for a minute, before reaching the intertwine her fingers with the redhead’s above the sheets.

 

“What are you done with?” She asked gently.

 

Alex’s eyes closed and she sighed.

 

“Everything. Everything except you and Jamie. I’m done with the rest. My job, the rest of my family. I have to make a choice, and I’m making one. It’s either walk away or compromise my beliefs. And I can't compromise who I am.”

 

Maggie let out a breath, and her eyes creased in amusement.

 

“Alex… what the hell are you talking about?”

 

The agent’s eyes flew open and she gave the other woman an incredulous look.

 

“The fact that I have to watch my sister put herself in an emotional blender again and again. The fact that for some reason, I’m the only person who seems to think we shouldn’t be treating Liam like the prodigal son returneth! Then we hide the truth in an effort to spare his feelings? We all know what he is. An arrogant, entitled, self-absorbed liar. And Kara! She moons after Lena, completely forgetting the fact that she cheated on her. And now I’m told to go home like a naughty child because I was the only person who dared to tell the truth.”

 

“Babe,” Maggie said softly. “I think it’s clear you needed a break. All of this has been full on for everyone… but you’ve been taking it all far too personally.”

 

“How could I not take it personally! It’s happening to me!”

 

“But it isn’t, is it? We’re a part of it, but it’s not really happening to us. And I’m not begrudging you telling the truth…Though your delivery could have been slightly better timed…” Maggie said, trailing off with a mutter that made her wife scowl.

 

“I’m surprised,” Alex said with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Why?” Maggie replied.

 

“Everything you’ve done so far had made it seem like you’re on his side.”

 

The detective’s eye’s widened, and a hint of amusement flickered in them before she gave her wife an exasperated look.

 

“Alex, there are no sides,” she began slowly. 

 

“I don’t know what the hell is happening in everyone’s head, and that's the point. Everything and everyone is flying around handling this situation in their own way. I’m doing my best to handle it the way I know how.” 

 

“Not holding anyone accountable for their actions?” Alex responded flatly.

 

Maggie winced.

 

“Ouch, that hurt. But if that’s true, it would cover your dumb actions too, so you should be ecstatic.”

 

Alex’s face grew incredulous.

 

“My dumb actions?”

 

“Yeah. Like the fact that you feel a need to overly involve yourself in your sister’s personal life.”

 

The agent spluttered and began to turn red.

 

“Wha… Are you kidding me? The years of misery she has been through, that I’ve tried to help her through? And you think I’m overly involved? She invited me to be involved! You know as well as I how much this has killed her. Disregarding that, why are we opening our hearts, minds and homes to a man like Liam? Glazing over his past, and not holding him accountable for his actions.”

 

The detective sighed.

 

“What do you want to do, Alex? What’s your solution? Should we lock him up? No? What should his punishment be? Hmm? Eternal damnation? Tell me what we should do.”

 

She couldn’t respond, except to shake her head and speak slowly.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Maggie softened her tone.

 

“What do you want from them Alex? To be miserable and unhappy the rest of their lives?”

 

“That's what I’m trying to stop happening, Maggie!” The agent replied with feeling.

 

The dimpled woman reached to cup her wife’s cheek with her hand.

 

“It’s not your decision Alex. It’s not up to you to decide if Kara wants to let Liam or Lena or the friggin Pope into her life.That’s up to her, and you know it,” she said gently.

 

The redhead’s eyes flashed with defiance.

 

“Why should I be forced into tolerating him? Isn’t that up to me too?”

 

Maggie took a deep breath, and rolled out of the bed softly, holding her hand out for Alex to follow.

 

“Come on Danvers. Let’s get you some fresh air.”

 

Alex groaned and rolled onto her back.

 

“I don’t think fresh air is the answer here Mags.”

 

“Well, neither is spending your days lying in bed. So before you completely transform into a pillow, I’m intervening.”

 

* * *

 

_"And what are you gonna do about it?” Alex teased her daughter, the younger redhead’s eyes flashing at the challenge._

 

_Jamie rose a few inches in her seat._

 

_“Don’t test me Ma…”_

 

_“Or what?” The agent replied with a smirk, before taking a long sip of her wine. “You gonna kick your mother’s butt? Or are you too chicken?”_

 

_Her daughter’s dark eyes flashed again, but she lowered herself into her seat._

 

_Alex’s self-satisfied smile grew larger._

 

_“Just what I thought. Don’t give what you can’t-“_

 

_She was cut off by a large spoonful of potato mash hitting her square in the face. The agent spluttered and wiped the food from her face, opening her eyes to find her cackling wife and daughter watching her with amusement._

 

_Maggie lowered her spoon, and her grin widened._

 

_“What was that babe? Give as good as you get?”_

 

_“You’re a traitor, you know that?” Alex responded venomously, before throwing a piece of bread at her wife, which the other woman artfully dodged with another laugh._

 

_“All’s fair in love and war,” the detective teased before she too was lobbed full force in the face by a spoonful of mashed peas._

 

_Maggie turned accusing eyes to face her daughter._

 

_Jamie raised her eyebrows innocently, but couldn’t contain her smile._

 

_“You come home for the week, and this is the thanks we get for keeping you fed and watered?” Maggie said, her hand fluttering over her heart dramatically._

 

_The younger redhead shrugged, but her smile only grew._

 

_“What can I say? All’s fair in love-“_

 

_This time, it was Jamie that got a spoonful of food straight in the face._

 

_Then it was all out war._

 

_After five minutes of laughing, and questionable set up of the points system to in the food fight that ensued (Alex winning by a fraction, only to be overtaken when Maggie poured juice down her shirt.) The three of them heard the doorbell._

 

_Alex muttered about drop cloths as she squished her way towards the door, even though her smile betrayed her. She opened the door with a smile, only for it to fall as she took in the sight of her exhausted, and red-rimmed eyed sister with a bag slung over her shoulder staring back at her._

 

_“Kara?” She questioned with surprise._

 

_The blonde looked over her food-stained form and listened as a round of laughter was heard from the apartment._

 

_“Oh… sorry. I didn’t mean too… I forgot that Jamie was coming this weekend…” She said slowly, her eyes drifting to the floor._

 

_“Kara, are you ok?” Alex asked gently._

 

_The blue-eyed woman opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of Maggie calling from inside the flat._

 

_“Babe, who is it?” The Latina woman called._

 

_The hero’s eyes flickered between the redhead and her sister - in - law’s voice._

 

_“I really don’t want to-“ she said softly, before being cut off as Maggie’s equally food splattered face rounded the side of the door, taking in the sight of the sight of the miserable hero with a glance. The detective’s face changed from amused to serious within the space of a few seconds._

 

_“Kara?” She asked in a soft voice, a foreboding sense of what had occurred growing in her stomach._

 

_“What’s wrong?”_

 

_The blonde’s eyes suddenly welled with tears, and Alex pulled her forward into the apartment. The blue-eyed woman all but collapsed in her sister’s arms, and the redhead looked at her wife helplessly for advice._

 

_Maggie grimaced and gave the shorthaired woman a significant look which appeared to go over Alex’s head. The detective rolled her eyes, before placing a soft hand on her crying sister-in-law’s back._

 

_“You want to stay the night Little Danvers?” She asked gently, and at the woman’s silent nod she turned and walked back into the apartment._

 

_“Jamie,” she called. “You’re gonna have to move your stuff out of the spare room.”_

 

_Alex turned her eyes frothier retreating wife, and back to her sister’s crying form._

 

_“Kara…,” she whispered softly. “What happened?”_

 

_The blonde pulled away, her eyes even redder than before, and stared at her sister with a lost look._

 

_“Lena cheated on me.”_

 

* * *

 

The redhead took a sip from her cup of coffee and Maggie gently nudged with her shoulder as they walked along the footpath.

 

“Hey… you know I love you, right?”

 

The redhead looked up from her distracted thoughts and zoned in on her wife with a concerned look.

 

“I love you too….?” She said uncertainly, making her wife laugh.

 

“God, there’s no reason to look so terrified. Can’t I tell my wife I love her, without her looking like an axe is going to fall on her head?”

 

“Sorry,” Alex replied, before drifting off in her thoughts again. 

 

At her vacant look, Maggie let out a sigh and gently reached out to hold the taller woman’s empty hand, pulling her to a stop.

 

“Hey,” she said with a smile, forcing the other woman to look at her.

 

“I love you,” she said with force.

 

This time Alex returned the smile and leaned in close for a lingering kiss.

 

“I love you too.”

 

They paused in the moment for a minute, before the dimpled detective pulled away completely and tilted her head with a smirk, tugging on their joined hands. 

 

“Come on Danvers, I want to show you something.”

 

She pulled her wife down the path, heading towards the centre of the park. The finally reached it, the beautiful fountain splashing in the middle of the converging footways. A statue of the original Supergirl, hands on hips and all, standing in the middle in the fountain, staring out on the city’s horizon with a determined expression.

 

Alex let out a sigh, as her eyes glanced at her sister’s younger form, before turning to the detective, a question in her eyes.

 

“Pretty impressive, huh?”

 

“Yes…. and?”

 

“Looks a bit different to the Kara who turned up on our doorsteps five years ago, doesn’t she?”

 

Alex huffed and gave her wife an exasperated look.

 

“Maggie, what point are you trying to make here?”

 

The detective smiled, her eyes dropping from the statue to her wife’s.

 

“My point, babe, is communication.”

 

Alex raised her eyebrows.

 

“Communication?”

 

“Yep,” Maggie said with a nod. “Communication. Or lack, thereof, when it comes to this family.”

 

“Alex… did you ever actually talk to Kara about how you felt regarding Liam and Lena? What your opinions were on the matter?”

 

“…no.”

 

“No. So maybe… just maybe… doing something that Kara deliberately asked you not to do, without so much as a by your leave, might have been a bit… aggressive.”

 

“What is the point of this Maggie. Trying to make me feel even more shit? I know no one thinks I’m right. I know everyone would like to just-“

 

The detective paused her wife, by holding her face in her hands 

 

“Alex… slow down.”

 

The redhead’s eyes began to fill with unwanted tears after a few seconds of Maggie’s hard staring. The detective dropped her hands, and her face softened.

 

“No matter how old you get, you’re always going to want to be the toughest person on the planet. But it’s one of the reasons why I love you.”

 

The Latina woman gripped her wife’s elbow gently and steered her over to a bench to sit.

 

“Come on Danvers, you can still be a badass and cry on my shoulder. No judgement.”

 

When they sat, the redhead leaned against her wife as the detective circled her arm around her, holding her close. A few silent tears fell from Alex’s eyes.

 

“You’re a good person, Danvers. One of the best. That’s the problem. You see the world in blacks and whites, rights and wrongs. And you love your family. You’d kill for us and you’d die for us. Ever since Kara arrived on this planet, it’s been your job to protect her, to help her. And you’ve done it. You’ve shaped Kara into the person she is today. Into the hero she is. You’ve been there for her through every hurt, every death and every heartbreak. She’s been shattered, and you’ve been there picking up the pieces.”

 

Maggie took a deep breath.

 

“Everyone talks about how she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, but people forget that you’ve been carrying her.”

 

Alex didn’t respond for a minute, before speaking in a small voice.

 

“I thought you were mad at me.”

 

The detective smiled.

 

“Well… maybe I was, just a little. Doesn’t mean I don’t care that you’re burning yourself out stressing about your sister’s happiness.”

 

“I know you think I’m doing this to myself, but I can’t just watch as she opens herself up to all this. And I can’t just smile at Lena and Liam like all is forgiven. Like they didn’t both rip my sister’s heart out and stomp all over. I’m never going to be able to do that. And I’m not going to pressured into doing it either. Frankly, I don’t see why I’m being treated like I’m in the wrong here. Because I’m the only one who thinks that they should be held accountable for their actions. Why should I be forced to accept them.”

 

“No one’s asking-“

 

Alex turned to face her wife with a hard stare.

 

“It’s heavily implied.”

 

The detective sighed but acknowledged the point with a nod.

 

“Alex, I don’t think the reason Kara was upset with you was because of how you feel about Liam and Lena. She was pissed because she was half dead on a table, and you broke your promise to her. You should have talked to her about it, about how you feel and why you’re upset. She’s got a lot of powers, but she’s not a mindreader.”

 

“If you recall, she doesn’t want to speak to me.”

 

“She was upset.”

 

“Well so am I, Maggie! How do you think I feel, chastised like a naughty child and sent to my room to stew?”

 

“Then tell her that. Tell her how you feel.”

 

“I think…. I think I need time to think.”

 

“Ok.”

 

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching as tourists took photos posing in front of the Supergirl statue.”

 

Maggie broke the silence.

 

“You can’t stop Kara from loving her, Alex. Or him.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“No?”

 

“No… I just want to stop her getting hurt again. They’ve already hurt her enough, why should they get another chance to do it again? Why should they get another chance at all.”

 

“It’s not up to you Alex. How Kara feels isn’t up to you.”

 

“Fine, then tell me why I should give them another chance.”

 

“I don’t know Alex. You have to make that decision on your own.”

 

“How do you do it?”

 

“Because no one’s perfect Alex. And I don’t think they’re bad people. Like it or not, they aren’t going anywhere. So the way I see it, we have two options. Hold their actions against them forever, or allow them to atone for them.”

 

“But that’s the point, they haven’t done anything to atone for them!”

 

Maggie didn’t answer but pointed in the direction of the statue.

 

“Four years ago, the city built that statue and rededicated the park. Do you remember?”

 

“I remember.”

 

“Do you know who _really_ paid for it?”

 

“I have a guess.”

 

“Lena.”

 

“So?”

 

“So, maybe Kara has been pining for her ex-wife all these years. But I’m pretty sure Lena’s been doing the same.”

 

“It’s not enough that she loves her Maggie.”

 

“It would be for me.”

 

* * *

 

The sound of knocking on the door made the pair break from watching the TV. Alex went to stand, but Maggie gestured for her to stay still. 

 

“I’ll get it.”

 

The redhead turned her gaze back to the screen, while the detective went to open the door.

 

“Liam?” 

 

Alex turned her head sharply from the TV towards the door and blinked in surprise.

 

Her nephew looked… different. 

 

His hair was cut short, and his beard trimmed neatly. He even appeared to have put on his clothes with a degree of care that she had never seen before. 

 

The way he looked, the redhead half thought he was knocking on doors to convert people. 

 

“What are you doing here Tree?” Maggie asked with a questioning look at the tall man, her mouth twitching as he scratched the base of his newly cut hair with an awkward face.

 

“I’m… I’m….,” he began stuttered, before taking a deep breath and turning his eyes to his other Aunt.

 

“I came to talk to you.”

 

The agent stood up from the couch and walked towards the pair.

 

“Someone dead?” She asked briskly, leaning against the door frame and crossing her arms.

 

He shook his head in response.

 

“Someone hurt?”

 

Another head shake.

 

“Emergency of any kind?”

 

“No.”

 

Alex smiled.

 

“Good,” she replied, before turning and closing the door in his face and faced her wife, daring her to say something. Maggie smirked but didn’t speak.

 

Her smile stretched further when the door was knocked on again. 

 

The dimpled woman crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards the door.

 

Alex rolled her eyes, but her scowl deepened as the knocking continued, increasing in volume and intensity. She held out for another few seconds, before groaning and yanking the door open again. Liam managed to stop himself from knocking on his aunt’s nose and dropped his hand with a sheepish expression.

 

“In case you misunderstood the first time,” The agent said in a saccharinely sweet tone, before closing the door again on his face, and walking back towards the kitchen for a glass of water, and an aspirin for a headache that was starting to form.

 

“Please…” Liam said muffledly through the door. “I just want ten minutes.”

 

The redhead sighed and braced herself against the counter.

 

A silence stretched briefly before Liam’s voice sounded through the door again.

 

“Please.”

 

The shorthaired woman looked up from the counter, to see her wife still standing by the door, eyeing her with amusement.

 

Alex stared at her briefly, her mouth in a hard line.

 

“I don’t want to talk to him,” she said in a low voice.

 

Maggie shrugged.

 

“Fine. Tell him to leave then.”

 

The agent hesitated, before letting out a shudder.

 

“…what do you think he wants?” She asked softly.

 

Maggie shrugged again.

 

“Ask him.”

 

Alex let out a groan, before pushing away from the bench and walking back towards the door. She pulled it open again and eyed her nephew carefully. His newfound ‘contrite’ expression seemed to be well in place, but after existing on the same planet as Kara for so many years, puppy dog eyes had no effect on her.

 

Particularly from people who consistently behaved like assholes.

 

“What do you want?” She asked in a tight tone.

 

“To talk to you,” Liam responded simply.

 

“Yes, you said that,” Alex replied sarcastically. “What about?”

 

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and an awkward silence stretched between them. The agent quickly grew impatient and began to grit her teeth.

 

“Liam, if you have something to say I would highly suggest you get on with it. I don’t really feel like standing in the doorway of my own apartment for the rest of the night. Plus, technically I’m on leave from work, so I’m not currently getting paid to deal with your bullshit.”

 

“I’m sorry,” he suddenly blurted out fast.

 

Alex raised her eyebrows and leant against the doorframe.

 

“A blanket statement, or are you sorry for anything in particular?”

 

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and Maggie spoke for the first time next to the redhead’s elbow, making her wife jump.

 

“Maybe we could move this discussion inside? Unless we’ve graduated from yelling at each other at work, to family meetings in hallways.”

 

The redhead turned her eyes to her wife, who raised her hands partially.

 

“Just saying,” she added, before turning and walking away from the door.

The agent grudgingly turned to face her nephew, and pushed open the door, gesturing for him to enter the flat. 

 

He hovered at the doorway, before walking inside and looking around.

 

“This place hasn’t changed in ten years,” Liam said, his eyes drifting over the family photographs and the old couch.

 

“You'll find some things don’t,” Alex responded dryly, before making her way back to the living room and sitting down in her previous spot. He followed her and rigidly took a seat in the chair opposite. They sat in silence again, the agent taking sips of her beer and observing him over the rim while her avoided eye contact.

 

She broke the quiet with a soft sigh.

 

“How’s Kara?” She asked. 

 

“She’s doing ok,” he responded quickly. “Her breathing’s a lot better, and she’s sleeping through the night ok. Still doesn’t have all her powers back though, and her invulnerability hasn’t returned.”

 

Alex nodded in reply.

 

“Jamie told me she’s staying with Lena now,” she said neutrally.

 

The man looked up at that and stared at her.

 

“….temporarily,” he responded.

 

She nodded at that but didn’t reply further. 

 

“It’s been… interesting,” the man spoke again.

 

“I don’t doubt it.”

 

Another pause in the conversation and Maggie’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

 

“What do you want from me, Liam. Why you here?”

 

“I told you, to apologise.”

 

“For what?”

 

He sat in silence for a moment and stared down at his fingers.

 

“She almost died. And it was my fault.”

 

Liam’s eyes flickered to her own.

 

“You were right, I wasn’t ready for the field. I was arrogant and entitled. And I let my personal feelings get in the way of the mission.”

 

She tilted her head.

 

“Ok…” she replied slowly, with a raised eyebrow.

 

His face grew frustrated.

 

“Look, I’m trying to-“

 

She held up her hand, cutting him off. He stopped speaking and stared at her while she gathered her words. 

 

“Maybe everyone else wants to give you the benefit of the doubt Liam, but I’m not so easily persuaded by a half-arsed apology.”

 

He went to speak, but she cut him off again. 

 

“What? Did you think a haircut and some decent clothes were going to suddenly wipe the slate clean? Make you ‘a new man’?” She asked, giving him an incredulous look.

 

He rubbed the back of his neck.

 

“I figured, a fresh start-“

 

“Let me be very clear Liam. I don’t like you. You’re the type of person, who believes no matter what they do and how they behave, they can excuse and get away with their behaviour by whining about how tough they had it. News flash kid, no matter how terrible you had it, it doesn’t excuse your actions. It doesn’t wave away your behaviour. It doesn’t nullify the bad things you’ve done. It doesn’t make how you treat people, what you’ve done to people, hurt any less.”

 

He scowled heavily.

 

“What? Do you want me to have a guilt complex? Chain me up, and commit myself to atonement for the rest of my life. At what point am I forgiven, hmm? How much do I have to do?”

 

She let out a laugh of derision.

 

“Do you even hear yourself? Sitting here, complaining again. Jesus.”

 

She stood up suddenly and turned her back to the short-haired man.

 

“You’ve done nothing at all Liam to earn my kindness or even my tolerance. Nothing at all. You come back after ten years, what did you expect? Open arms? Not from me.”

 

Liam stood up himself and walked until he was standing next to her.

 

“I didn’t expect anything Alex,” he said softly.“I never thought I would stay.”

 

She let out another laugh, turning to face him. 

 

“Oh yes, I forgot. That would have been in your grand journey of self-absorption, whose left here holding the bag? And then you whine like a wounded dog because I don’t let you on the head when you don’t get your way. You want your sins to be excused because you’re a misunderstood soul? As if that excuses your behaviour! They bend over backwards, Kara bends over backwards because for some deluded reason she feels guilty. Why should she feel guilty?” 

 

“What have you done to earn their allowances? Nothing. So you were honest? That doesn’t excuse your behaviour. Worst of all, you come here demanding an explanation for why I find you to be an arrogant toerag as if you’re owed an explanation. You aren’t owed anything.” 

 

“I know, ok? I know!” He shouted suddenly, his eyes growing red with unshed tears. 

 

Liam shuddered briefly before his shoulders dropped and his expression grew lost.

 

Annoyingly, she was reminded of Kara.

 

He was quiet for a minute, before speaking softly.

 

“I’ve spent years, running from my past. Living in the moment, and doing as I please.”

 

The bearded man struggled for his words again.

 

“It never felt happy. I was never happy.”

 

“For so long, I’ve been angry. I’ve built who I am on it. But I don’t want to be angry anymore… or lonely. I know I’m an asshole, and it took my mother almost dying on top of me to make me realise that I don’t want to live the rest of my life hating her. I want to make amends… I want to be better. So yes, I am sorry. For everything, I’ve done to hurt you. I can’t take it back. I can’t change it. But I’m sorry. And I’m not expecting anything for it… I just… wanted you to know.” 

 

After he finished speaking, Liam turned to leave. Giving Maggie, who was still in the kitchen watching them, a goodbye nod. He almost made it to the door when his redheaded aunt spoke. 

 

 

“Shockingly, unlike you Liam, I don’t need my family members to nearly die to remember I care about them.”

 

He paused, his hand hovering over the handle.

 

“I know.”

 

She sighed and walked towards him. Liam turned to face her and she raked her eyes up an down his form.

 

Alex paused and gathered her thoughts before speaking slowly and deliberately, measuring her words.

 

“I’m not sorry for telling you about the divorce, frankly I never thought it made sense to keep it from you in the first place. But… I do regret the way it happened. I lost my temper, and my sister had almost died.”

 

Her gaze grew harsh.

 

“And you contributed heavily to her being on that operating table.”

 

She held his eyes for a second, before sighing again.

 

“But we don’t have time anymore for arguing amongst ourselves. Something is happening with Cadmus, something big. And it can’t be good. So I’ll make you a deal… you behave, and learn to _listen…_ and we can work together. That’s all I can give you for now.”

 

He didn’t reply but held out his hand. Alex shook it firmly.

 

“Tell your mother, I want to talk to her. And I need to give her a proper checkup anyway.”

 

“Ok.”

 

After the door closed behind him, the agent let out a heavy breath and rubbed her forehead.

 

“Well that was a surpri-“ Maggie said, before being cut off by a knock on the door again.

 

Alex opened it with an annoyed expression.

 

“What now?” She bit out.

 

Liam squared his jaw before speaking.

 

“Whatever I need to do, however much time it takes. I’m going to earn your trust again. And your respect.”

 

She arched her eyebrow.

 

“Are you now?” The redhead responded.

 

He gave her a resolute nod.

 

“Yes.”

 

She stared at him quietly before her eyes softened a fraction and she opened the door wider.

 

“Come on. Maggie’s cooking spaghetti. I figure one more person for dinner, will decrease the amount of vegan pasta I have on my plate.”

 

“Hey!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to reiterate people, we have a long, long, longgggggg way to go with this story, and have heaps left to explore in terms of character development. There will be many ups and downs, and all is NOT forgiven. Stormy seas ahead :) Anyway, let me know what you thought!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people :) Hope everyone is well, and enjoying their weeks. It's been an interesting one for me, that's for sure. Anyway, voila! New chapter! Hope you enjoy :)

Liam shifted in his seat, for the fifth time that hour his impatience growing with every second. Nina, in the seat next to him, didn’t seem to be faring much better. A bored glaze to her eyes, even as she ever dutifully scanned the bustling of the CatCo offices for signs of a threat.

 

The tall man uncrossed his arms with a sigh, plastered his most charming smile on his face, stood and approached the typing assistant they were seated across from.

 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you once again, but I was wondering how much longer-“

 

“When she’s ready for you, trust me, you’ll know,” the curly-haired man said in a frazzled voice, as he quickly shuffled through papers and double checked something on his computer. His eyes flickered up to give the bearded man an unamused look when Liam didn’t leave.

 

“Honey, you’re nowhere near cute enough to make me risk getting yelled at by my boss, asking if she’s ready for you.”

 

He turned his eyes back to his computer with a frown, as an email dinged.

 

“Take a seat, and there’s coffee in the corridor,” he said distractedly as he began to type again furiously.

 

The green-eyed man walked away dejectedly, and back towards his younger companion as she fought hard to hide her smirk.

 

He shot her an annoyed look as he sat down and crossed his arms.

 

“What?” Liam asked snippily with an arched eyebrow.

 

Nina laughed quietly and shrugged.

 

“I’m getting the impression that you’re not used to someone errrr…. resisting your charms.”

 

“Excuse me, I wasn’t even trying. If I was, we would be halfway to an empty office by now.”

 

Liam slouched in his seat and continued muttering.

 

“I just wanted to know how much longer we were going to have to wait here. She said the interview was at nine, and it’s ten now.”

 

A small pause, before he muttered even lower.

 

“And not everything is about sex.”

 

Nina let out a snort and gave him the side eye.

 

“Oh yeah? How long has it been since you got some?”

 

He turned his head and raised his eyebrow with a smirk.

 

“Is that a proposition?” He said in a lower and slow voice.

 

Nina flushed and crossed her arms over her chest. 

 

“Oh get over yourself,” she said with enough poison to kill a plant.

 

Liam felt an unusual stab of annoyance at himself, and let out a sigh before appraising the younger woman next to him quietly.

 

“Seriously though,” he said in a soft voice. “I just realised I don’t know much about you. You got someone special in your life?”

 

Nina gave him a look, dripping with disdain.

 

“Yeah. My job.”

 

Liam winced.

 

“Ouch,” he replied, and another silence lapsed between them. Another few minutes passed, and Liam starting shifting in his seat again, eyes darting to the clock on the wall as the time ticked by.

 

“How long did you have to wait with Kia yesterday?” The green-eyed man said distractedly.

 

Nina smiled and gave him an amused look.

 

“Not a second, she took her in straight away. Wasn’t in there long either, maybe a half an hour?”

 

The dark-haired man’s face turned sour.

 

“You were gone for three!” He exclaimed.

 

Nina gave him another small shrug, before closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair.

 

“Yeah, well we went for an ice-cream after.”

 

The other man’s mouth gapped briefly before he closed it with a pop.

 

"…you went for ice cream? I thought you were just drinking buddies?”

 

She opened one of her eyes halfway and tilted her head.

 

“What’s it to you? Are you my keeper now?”

 

He bit his next words back, but couldn’t help the small bloom of jealousy that grew in his chest. Liam aggressively shoved it down and chastised himself.

 

The tall man let out a breath and stared down at his feet.

 

“No, I don’t mind you not hovering,” the green-eyed man said in a soft voice, before leaning back as well.

 

“And I’ll admit it’s a bit weird clunking around in the new apartment all four of us. It’s like the fucked-up and awkward Brady Bunch if one of them occasionally needed a ventilator.”

 

He hesitated.

 

“I just didn’t know you were so close is all.”

 

“Again,” she said with a hard edge to her voice. “What’s it to you?”

 

Liam thought for a second, before shrugging.

 

“Absolutely nothing,” he replied, before returning to his silence and staring back at the floor.

 

A few more seconds passed and Nina let out a soft huff, sat up straighter and turned to face him slightly.

 

“Anyway, things seem to be going well at home.”

 

Liam grimaced.

 

“Yeah,” he said sarcastically. “The dinners are super fun.”

 

He winced immediately.

 

“Bad pun."

 

“Yeah, I got that when I said it.”

 

Nina gave him an appraising look, and her eyes grated over his face.

 

“You look good, by the way. I like the cleaned-up version of you.”

 

Liam rubbed the back of his head self-consciously, and his mouth downturned remembering the conversation with his aunt last night.

 

“Yeah… don’t think it’s really fooling anyone about me trying to be… I don’t even know what I’m trying to be.”

 

Nina watched him closely, eyeing his foot as it began to tap on the floor, and darting to his twitching fingers.

 

“You know,” she said slowly and in a delicate tone. “You haven’t been back to a meeting in a while.”

 

The bearded man’s fingers instantly stopped, and he sat very still before speaking very slowly and with an edge of irritation to it.

 

“I’m not looking down street corners for drugs at the moment Nina got a bit more on my mind than just that.”

 

She pursed her lips.

 

“I’m just saying, it’d probably be good to talk about what you’re feeling.”

 

He huffed and scrubbed one of his shoes against the floor.

 

“A bit hard to be honest about it, when I don’t really know myself. Besides, it’s not like I can be upfront about the exact  _nature_  of the problems we’re all going through.”

 

The dark-haired woman shrugged helplessly.

 

“Well, you should talk to someone.”

 

The green-eyed man snorted and rolled his eyes at her.

 

“People in the family? Right, cause that’ll make it easier to process and confide,” he responded sarcastically.

 

“What about Gary?”

 

Liam let out a laugh.

 

“He’s not really down with talking about serious things. I’m pretty sure he’s off experiencing Earth as we speak.”

 

The younger woman frowned.

 

“I don’t know, might just be your ego talking again. Sometimes it’s good to confide in a friend. Friends are nice.”

 

He shook his head but didn’t verbally disagree with her. Nina looked him over again, before placing a gentle hand on his tensed forearm.

 

“Well, you can always talk to me.”

 

Liam turned to give her an appraising look, his mouth twitching into a lopsided smile.

 

“Look at you go, getting all mature and stuff. I hope it starts rubbing off on me.”

 

She snorted, and removed her hand, filing away his deflection for later.

 

“I haven’t noticed a massive change. You talk less I guess.”

 

The man’s thoughts drifted to the image of the last few days in the new apartment. Everyone living at opposite ends, and tiptoeing awkwardly around each other. Sometimes, Liam had to catch himself from saying snarky comments, and he swore his mom had bit her tongue more times than he could count about things he did. Then there was Kara, who if she was in the same common space as the rest of them, just sat there and observed. He had never known his blonde mother to be quiet, so it was rather unsettling. More often then not, he would drift off to his now private room. Occasionally after he disappeared, he swore he could hear the quiet murmuring of his two parents talking to each other, but when they were together, they seemed more like overly polite roommates, who didn’t really know each other that well.

 

“It’s weird…,” Liam said making a face. “Living like this. Don’t tell me you don’t think it’s weird.”

 

She shrugged but nodded her head.

 

“Personally I think it isn’t a good idea.”

 

The bearded man sighed, his thoughts turning gloomy.

 

“It’s just temporary.”

 

Nina gave him a look.

 

“Sure…All I’m saying is there’s a hell of a lot of unresolved shit going to go down soon between the three of you. A hell of a lot. The only reason it’s stayed under wraps until now is that Kara has been sick, and everyone just got suddenly aware of their own mortalities.”

 

Liam agreed with her, and a curdle of discomfort grew in his stomach.

 

“…you know, it’s been hard to wrap my head around I’ll admit.”

 

“What?”

 

He waved his hand awkwardly.

 

“Mom… having a.. you know. It’s weird that…”

 

Liam groaned and rubbed his eyes.

 

“I don’t know, the whole thing is pretty fucked.”

 

She tilted her head, lost in her own thoughts.

 

“It’s confusing, yes.”

 

He hesitated before speaking again.

 

“Why did….,” Liam began, before trailing off with an uncomfortable look.

 

“You know it feels weird to call her that.”

 

“Call who what?” Nina questioned.

 

“Call Kara… mama. And even think of her like that. It feels, unnatural in my mouth. And you’re right, the shock of it all is fading, and reality is setting in. I still look at her, and I still feel angry. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s still there. And Mom… Is this how the rest of you feel? Not knowing everything? I mean, I’m not angry at her. But it’s… Do I want to know why she did it? But it feels… out of place for me to ask. In all the time that I was gone, it honestly never even occurred to me that they wouldn’t be together forever. They’ve always been ride or die.”

 

Nina bit her lip, to stop her smile.

 

“Ride or die?” She said with amusement.

 

He gave her an annoyed look, before gesturing wildly.

 

“You know what I mean. Together forever and all that shit. I never really…. is it stupid that I think I’m only starting to get now, that what happened with me. What happened with everything, kind of caused a chain reaction of shit?”

 

She considered his words, before nodding in agreement.

 

“You’ve had your head pretty monumentally up your own ass, that is true. And when everything did go bad, you were the one to spark it.”

 

She turned to him with a stern look, before he had a chance to respond.

 

“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it wasn’t something you did. Just because you didn’t light the dynamite that set the avalanche off, it doesn’t mean you didn’t make sure everyone else was placed in its path. Do I think you’re directly responsible for your parent's divorce? No. Do I think you certainly helped it happen? Yes, I do.”

 

Liam remained quiet and stared down at his fingers. Nina frowned slightly at his silence, before speaking again this time in a softer voice.

 

“Does it bother you, that they’re divorced?”

 

The man didn’t respond for a few seconds, mulling over his thoughts in his mind, before beginning softly.

 

“I don’t know if I’m being honest. It’s just… weird. I do know, that Mom’s sad. And before I came back in a blaze of fucking glory, she was lonely as hell.”

 

Liam turned to her with a curious look.

 

“What did Alex mean, when she said Mom had fallen in love with someone else? That it wasn’t just a fling?”

 

Nina shrugged and leant back again in her seat.

 

“I don’t know everything about it Liam, I was still a kid and it wasn’t exactly proclaimed in the family.”

 

He frowned again, questions still niggling at the back of his mind, and began to form a headache. Liam let out another heavy sigh, before leaning back as well.

 

“This is so fucked up,” he said simply, making Nina nod her agreement.

 

“Welcome to Earth.”

 

She tilted her head to the side, so she was looking at him again.

 

“You coming back hasn’t been totally bad, I’m not saying you haven’t been an asshole, but things are starting to move. Everyone was static before, nothing changed and half the people were miserable.”

 

He snorted.

 

“You sound like Maggie. But now everyone is miserable.”

 

Nina rolled her eyes and punched him not so lightly in the shoulder.

 

“Oh quit feeling sorry for yourself. You can’t go from being a prick whining about your lot, to behaving slightly better, and still whining.”

 

Liam rubbed his shoulder with a wince.

 

“Transformations take time, Nina,” he said with a slight pout.”

 

She gave him a no-nonsense look and waved her hands.

 

“Well hop to it, lord knows the rest of us have had to keep up with the train whether we’ve wanted to or not. We didn’t all get the luxury of retreating from the world when things went bad. Some of us had to stand and face it.”

 

He opened his mouth briefly but struggled for what to say.

 

“I don’t know how to respond in a way that won’t sound angry and resentful,” Liam admitted, making her grin wide.

 

“Good lesson for life then, if you don’t feel like you should keep your mouth shut, count to five and ask yourself if what your saying is based entirely on your own feelings.”

 

Liam laughed himself.

 

“You’ve been spending too much time with my sister, you’re starting to sound like her.”

 

“She’s a smart lady, what can I say.”

 

The bearded man hummed and looked at her suspiciously.

 

“Hmm, is right,” she answered to his look.

 

After a few seconds, he frowned again.

 

“So, what do you think I should do? About all this stuff, earning trust back and settling the waters.”

 

Nina gave him a neutral look.

 

“Nothing is ever going to be the same Liam,” she said simply.

 

“Ever. And you’re not going to become a better person if all you do is wonder if other people think you’re a better person. It comes from somewhere inside. Don’t try to prove it, just be it.”

 

His fingers began to twitch again, and he gave her an irritated look.

 

“That is annoyingly vague, considering I’m out of practice.”

 

She gave him a saccharinely sweet smile.

 

“I don’t think you’re all bad Liam, surely you have some redeeming qualities,” Nina said with a laugh.

 

Liam huffed, before responding.

 

“Ok, this really isn’t meant to sound whiny, but I don’t think, in the case of being a better member of this family, there is much that is redeeming about me.”

 

Nina glanced over his defeated face and gave him a stoic look.

 

“Well, you can start by trusting other people so that they can learn to trust you. You have to give before you get.”

 

He smiled, and stared at her for a while, his eyes searching for something.

 

“Why are you offering me all this advice. Being so understanding. Why are all of you being so understanding? Why didn’t anyone tell me about the affair, why are you trying so goddamn hard especially when I haven’t been?”

 

Nina gave him a small smile and patted his hand.

 

“Short version? we’re just better people than you. Long version, it’s complicated. On that list of things, that you should definitely start making on how to be a better person, maybe start to consider that other people are angry with you. Really angry with you.”

 

“And it’s all going to come to the surface,” Liam said resignedly.

 

“Pretty much, and it might do you some good to pay attention when it does.”

 

He nodded.

 

“Thanks for the heads up.”

 

Nina patted his hand one more time, before withdrawing.

 

“It’s what I’m here for.”

 

“Thought you were here to have my back in a fight?” Liam teased.

 

“Well, that too,” she replied.

 

“You know, one of these days if I finally go back to work and get a paycheck, I’m going to get you the biggest present.”

 

She eyed him suspiciously, before grunting.

 

“You’re a Luthor, I expect nothing less than a Ferrari.”

 

He laughed incredulously, but it died when her serious face didn’t shift.

 

“Why would you want a Ferrari?” Liam questioned with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Who doesn’t want a Ferrari?” Nina responded, looking at him like he was stupid.

 

Liam raised his hands in defence.

 

“I’ll see what I can do.”

 

They were interrupted suddenly.

 

“She’ll see you now,” the assistant’s voice said, and Liam looked up to see the other man pointing in the direction of the office.

 

Liam stood up and stretched, Nina gave him an amused look.

 

“Good luck in there.”

 

He gave her a funny look.

 

“It’s just a fluff piece on the family, how hard could it be?”

 

She laughed.

 

* * *

 

If Liam thought he was uncomfortable in the waiting room, it had nothing on sitting opposite Cat Grant under her weighted and silent stare for the last few minutes. The second he’d opened his mouth to speak once he entered the room, the other woman had glared at him until he closed it, merely uttering a single commanding word.

 

“Sit.”

 

And so he sat.

 

Cat leant back in her chair and laced her fingers together once the silence reached the three-minute mark, not like Liam was counting, and narrowed her eyes.

 

The bearded man was strangely reminded of a rattlesnake about to strike, and an uncomfortable weight settled in his stomach.

 

“I don’t like you, you look like an entitled man-child. Frankly, the hobo chic look was better then than this attempt to bring the millennial three days no shave look back. All in all, you just like you are trying to hard not to look like your uncle, and I can assure you it’s not working.”

 

“It’s-“

 

“Did I say you could speak?”

 

“This is an interview,” he replied confused.

 

The older woman gave him such a withering look, Liam felt like sinking into the couch he was sitting on.

 

“Yes, but right now I’m talking. And you would wisely remember, that I have the power to destroy you completely with the stroke of a pen, if you have any intelligence at all I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut unless asked not to.”

 

He didn’t so much as a squeak in response.

 

Cat turned to look back down at her table and sifted through some files.

 

“Now…. let’s see what we’ve got here,” she said, thumbing through a series of printed photographs.

 

“Led away from a bloody crime scene in cuffs, how very Luthor of you,” she said with a discerning look at that particular photo, before tossing it aside.

 

“Grinning up at the camera, after being released from the hospital,” she continued, throwing that photo to the side too.

 

She settled on one suddenly, and her lips pursed before laying it flat on the table between them, and twisting it so Liam could see.

 

“You with your family, at the memorial service for Superman. Six months before you disappeared. Now that will be a good place to start this article.”

 

* * *

 

_It was a dreary day, that’s for sure. A huge crowd, and for some reason the Luthor family was right up front. When they’d arrived in their private car, and had been ushered right to the head of the unveiling of the new statue along with several heads of state, the people had murmured. Liam could hear it as he walked, the whispers of what reasons Luthor’s would have to come to this event except for nefarious purposes._

 

_Questions if they were carrying bombs like Lex._

 

_Liam forced his shoulders to remain high when his mother placed a gentle hand on his back and gave him a small nod._

 

_He knew what she was saying with that look._

 

_We’re not that kind of Luthor. The people are grieving right now, and they forget that we’re not that kind of Luthor._

 

_We’re not Lex._

 

_Once they had stood at the front of the podium, the ceremony had started. Supergirl, in all her newly minted glory, and Superwoman standing next to the ceremonial coffin while speeches were made. The Kara and Kia standing next to him of course, were just a shapeshifter J’onn and Me’gan. And when the DEO director placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as the ceremony continued, Liam couldn’t help but feel an angry stab to his heart as he shrugged it off._

 

_This wasn’t real, it was all show._

 

_In reality, Clark Kent’s funeral had been small. Just his closest family and friends, back in Smallville where he had grown up. His mother and sister had been standing there as themselves, with him. Not above them all, better than the normal humans below._

 

_Better than him, even though he was as much Superman’s family as anyone else._

 

_His eyes shifted to a hard-faced Lois Lane, standing next to her father and sister even further back then they were, and felt a wash of guilt roll over him._

 

_Not so much his family then._

 

_As the ceremony drew to a close, his mother said a pray in Kryptonian over the casket, and at the last line, her eyes found his. Filled with anger, guilt and sorrow._

 

_And disappointment._

 

* * *

 

Liam looked at the photo and his angry teenage face as he watched the casket being lowered into the ground.

 

The younger him’s fists tightly clenched.

 

“Luthor’s at the funeral for Superman, if the world wasn’t already grieving they would have thought it had gone mad. And of course, the day after when your uncle managed to get a recording of himself leaked and splashed onto every screen imaginable, about how happy he was that Superman was finally dead. The start of the planet being given back to who it truly belongs, humans.”

 

“There is more to a world, then just Lex’s ideals,” Liam said softly. “The day Superman died was a tragic loss, and it is still being felt to this day.”

 

The CEO tapped her nails on her desk.

 

“Yes, the repercussions have been felt like a shockwave across the earth. Still, when he died Supergirl and Superwoman stepped up, to hold back the xenophobic tide, and the criminal one, that came in its wake. Except of course, when the Hospital Bombing happened. That changed everything. One of the worst terrorist events in the history of this nation. You disappearing right afterwards, a Luthor disappearing right afterwards, it was funny the media didn’t ask more questions. Not so funny once you remember your mother was running CatCo.”

 

“Are you insinuating something?” He said, and an edge of anger to his voice.

 

Cat tutted, and shook her finger.

 

“No, no. I let it go before, but still no talking now.”

 

She stood up and moved around the other side the desk.

 

“Then you disappear off the face of the earth for ten years. In that time, your parents get divorced and the whole city goes through a whole host of changes. Then, you turn back up out of the blue and are suddenly implicated in a murder. That’s very interesting.”

 

She appraised him with narrowed eyes briefly

 

“Hmm,” she hummed, before blinking and taking the seat opposite him, crossing her ankles.

 

“So, I’ve decided to write a piece on your family. Don’t mistake me, this is only partially because Kiera is a favourite reporter of mine. It’s mostly because I don’t like being kept in the dark of information. And I have a feeling, that there a lot of secrets to uncover here.”

 

Cat suddenly smiled wolfishly and gave him a taunting look.

 

“I like your sister, by the way. She has a fierceness about her, that frankly still not enough women in this country have. Plus, she looks great in photographs. You, not so much.”

 

A nerve in his cheek twitched, and his fierce look increased.

 

“Annoying. Petulant. Man-child,” she listed out on her fingers. “These are the focus words I think of when I look at photos of you.”

 

A silence stretched before she raised her eyebrows.

 

“What, nothing to say?”

 

His mouth gaped, and he gave her a frustrated look.

 

“You told me not to speak!”

 

Cat shrugged.  


 

“Yes.. well. You might be less annoying if you talk, anything’s better than just sitting there like an irritating intern that doesn’t know right from left.”

 

“How can I possibly be annoying, I’ve barely done anything since I arrived!” Liam said in an incredulous voice.

 

“Well, that’s up for debate,” she responded, before rising to her feet and walking back to her desk.

 

Liam stared at her briefly, before shaking his head and speaking in a bitter tone.

 

“You really don’t like me, do you?”

 

“It’s not about whether I like you, Lucas, it’s about whether the public likes you.”

 

The bearded man restrained himself from walking out and took a deep breath before responding.

 

“So, what do you want me to do?”

 

She turned sharply and shot him a rapid-fire question that made him blink.

 

“Why were you gone all those years? Ten years is a long time to disappear for.”

 

His jaw tightened.

 

“I was travelling,” Liam said simply.

 

“Traveling…. Finding yourself?” Cat responded disdainfully, clearly not believing him.

 

“Reinventing myself,” the bearded man replied.

 

“Into a better person?” She asked with a smirk.

 

His eyes darkened, and he crossed his arms defensively.

 

“No. Just a different one.”

 

The CEO paused at that, and she gave him another appraising look, before taking her seat.

 

“Hmmm,” she hummed again, tapping her pen on her chin, her eyes unblinking.

 

She held the stare, until he became uncomfortable, and then suddenly broke it off to shuffle through her files again.  


“I’m not one to mince words, never have been. The reason I’m interviewing you all separately is that I’m trying to understand the exact angle to pursue here. See, on one hand, we have a family, that seems continuity haunted by the mistakes of certain members. And on the other, I have to decide whether the mistakes of those members are truly in the past. What do you think about that?”

 

He shook his head.

 

“I have no opinion about any mistakes made by my family.”

 

Cat’s eyes narrowed.

 

“The official police report from the Zoo incident indicates that it was an assassination gone wrong and that you were the intended target. Why do you think someone was trying to target you?”

 

He shrugged.

 

“I’m a Luthor. It’s what people do, try to kill Luthors.”

 

“Ah, but usually it’s members of your own family that try to kill each other.”

 

Liam smirked.

 

“In this case I doubt it.”

 

“When was the last time you went to see your uncle in prison.”

 

The man was taken back by the question, his mind flashed with a memory that he squashed down as he struggled to keep his face neutral.

 

“Never.”

 

Cat blinked.

 

“Have you ever been in contact with your uncle,” she asked slowly.

 

Liam shrugged again.

 

“Not directly. There were a few incidents, growing up when my sister and I both received death threats from his more fanatic legionaries.”

 

She hummed in response.

 

“Even decades behind bars of the most maximum security of the planet, Mr Luthor still has reach.”

 

“I suppose he does. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never met him.”

 

The CEO stared at him again, and Liam had the uncomfortable feeling that she was getting pleasure out of watching him squirm.

 

“And what are your plans now Lucas?” She asked airily.

 

“Now that you are safe and sound at home, from your long travels away. There’s a rumour going around that you are engaged to a certain someone, the woman waiting for you outside.”

 

“Rumours can be exaggerated,” he responded neutrally.

 

“These ones seemed to have generated from within your own company, and the building in which your mother previously lived. Apparently, when you came back from your time away, you came back with a fiancé.”

 

She tilted her head and arched an eyebrow.

 

“And now, your mother has moved yet again. And Kara has called in sick for the past week, but shots have been taken of her arriving in and out of the apartment you share. Tell me, is a reconciliation on the horizon? Are you all just one big happy family.”

 

A flash of anger grew in him, and he glared at the older woman.

 

“The respect for my family’s privacy doesn’t mean much to you, does it?” He bit out.

 

She shrugged.

 

“Not when I’m writing an investigatory piece on it, no. And especially not when my least irritating journalist’s heart seems to be in danger of being broken again.”

 

The CEO ended with a fierce look that priced the other man’s soul.

 

“And here I thought this was going to be a fluff piece,” he replied.

 

Her look didn’t quaver.

 

“There’s nothing fluffy about your family Lucas. Entrenched in lies, deceit, murder. Yet, on the flip side capable of doing so much good.”

 

He huffed and crossed his arms.

 

“Is there a point to this?”

 

The older woman laced her fingers together, and her look became calculating.

 

“Trying to get the measure of you as a man, At the moment, you’re reminding me far too much of Damian Wayne. Except, at least his broodiness is matched up by his extraordinary success in his field. But you don’t seem to have accomplished anything in your life apart from pulling a vanishing act, leaving his family to crumble behind him.”

 

Liam didn’t respond, but his jaw tightened further. The CEO continued to stare at him, before giving him a begrudging nod.

 

“I’ll give you this, you seem to have learned to bite your tongue. I was expecting a lot more… nattering on your part.”

 

He huffed and shook his head.

 

“I don’t, and never will,  _natter._  I’m just waiting for you to ask me a question instead of throwing fuel on the fire, wishing for it to explode.”

 

“Why did you come back to National City?” Her next question shot out.

 

The tall man shrugged.

 

“I didn’t plan to originally. Circumstances forced me to come back.”

 

“Why did you stay?”

 

“…my mother asked me too,” he said softly.

 

“Lena?”

 

“Yes.”

 

She looked him over again.

 

“You admire your mother?” The CEO inquired with a curious tone.

 

Liam nodded earnestly.

 

“I love her. I think she’s an incredible human being. I missed her the most when I was away.”

 

“And your other mother, Kara? How do you feel about her?”

 

The green-eyed man didn’t answer for a minute, staring down at the floor before beginning slowly.

 

“I think, that both of my parents have been through a lot in their lives. And they’ve both come out stronger people for it.”

 

“You didn’t answer my question,” she said in an almost soft tone, taking Liam buy surprise.

 

He looked at her and shrugged.

 

“It’s hard to answer. I admire both my mothers. They are both strong, successful people who have achieved and done a lot of good in their lives.”

 

“But you don’t feel the same connection with Kara as you do with Lena.”

 

He shook his head.

 

“Sometimes, people drift apart. Children and parents as much as spouses.”

 

“When did you first find out about the divorce.”

 

“When I returned home.”

 

‘You’d had no contact with anyone before then?”

 

He was surprised at the bloom of regret that blossomed in his chest.

 

“No, I was completely off the radar,” Liam responded softly.

 

“That must have been very difficult for your parents. Do you think it helped contribute to their divorce?”

 

The regret twisted to anger.

 

“Well, I can’t speculate to the exact reasons they got divorced, in the end, it’s something that was decided between themselves.”

 

Her gaze hardened, and she pressed for more.

 

“Do you feel guilty, or responsible in some way? Being out of contact for so long, and returning to find your family broken.”

 

“Should I feel guilty?” He asked in an irritated voice.

 

“Well, that’s the question,” she said with an arched eyebrow.

 

“I think,” he began tensely. “Instead of living in the past and wallowing in things we can't change. We should all start to look towards the future.”

 

She sniffed and waved his words of dismissively.

 

“Easy words, sounds like you wash your hands of responsibility there.”

 

He glared at her.

 

“I’ve spent a decade of my life simultaneously running from my problems, and being angry for the people I thought helped to cause them. I just don’t want to continue making the same mistake,” Liam bit out.

 

She rolled her eyes and looked at him disbelieving.

 

‘’Sounds like you’ve had an epiphany, to be a new man. Will it stick?”

 

He took a breath and calmed himself.

 

“Time will tell.”

 

Cat paused and wrote down something on her pad for the first time. Liam curiosity was cut off quickly by her next question/

 

“And how has your family, reacted to you being home,” she asked, her pen scratching.

 

“Their reactions have been… mixed.”

 

“Accepting?”

 

He felt like laughing.

 

“In some ways no, but in others, yes.”

 

Cat stopped writing and looked him over.

 

“So what are your plans, now that you have returned?”

 

Liam shook his head.

 

“Settle in really. Work.”

 

“Yes, you have a job in the mailroom at your mother’s company. Working your way up the chain to leadership?”

 

An edge of panic entered his mind at the thought.

 

“That wasn’t a goal of mine when I took the job.”

 

“But you do plan on taking over L-Corp?” She asked with an arched brow.

 

He gave her an uncomfortable look.

 

“… I don’t think I’m really qualified to do so.”

 

“Hmmmm”

 

She finished her writing and dropped her pen before lacing her fingers together again and staring at him.

 

“So you have no idea what you want to do, now that you’re home. Your family is in disarray, and people are trying to kill you. Tell me, Liam Luthor, what do you bring with you back to this city that is good.”

 

The man thought about her questions, and the swirling feelings in his stomach churned. He opened his mouth twice to speak but held his tongue. Liam finally decided on a response and turned to hold her gaze with an equal fierceness.

 

“Not much at all, if I’m being honest. I’m a self-involved, angry and bitter human being. It’s taken me a long time to become that person, it’s going to take me a long time to become a better one. I just want to earn my way now, and if people don’t want to give me the chance to do that, well… that’s their choice.”

 

He sighed and closed his eyes briefly.

 

“But I still want to try.”

 

A silence settled in the room.

 

Cat watched him for a long minute, her face now unreadable before she flipped her book closed and began again in a bored tone.

 

“Tell me, what’s your opinion of our resident heroes, Supergirl and Superwoman. How do you think they’ve been handling the defences of the city for the past decade.”

 

Liam smiled and rubbed his thumb over his knee.

 

“I think Superwoman has done what she’s always done, be the saviour this city needs. As for the critics saying Supergirl should smile more, I would ask them when was the last time they stopped a multi-lane bridge from collapsing into the bay. Until they do so, they can stop making stupid comments about whether Supergirl should smile more.”

 

* * *

 

 

“We’re done here?” He asked when the older woman began to shuffle through papers again.

 

She nodded.

 

“For your individual interview, yes. I still have to interview both your parents. This is a family piece after all.”

 

Liam shuddered at the thought and hesitated briefly before speaking.

 

“Can I ask you a question?”

 

She rolled her eyes and responded with a bored voice.

 

“I have the feeling you’re going to, regardless of whether I want you too.”

 

“Why did you take on this piece. Really?”

 

She looked at him like he was stupid, and spoke in a one that indicated he was wasting her time.

 

“Are you trying to be an idiot, or do you truly not recall that I already told you why? On second thoughts, I did think you had sort if a glazed look, but I just assumed that was your generations go to expression.”

 

Liam shook his head and turned to leave.

 

“Never mind.”

 

He was stopped when suddenly she spoke.

 

“Do you remember the last time we met? Your sister’s engagement party I believe.”

 

* * *

 

_Liam was sitting in the corner of the room, while the party moved around him. His thoughts were dark, as they had been for the last six months, but his distracted thoughts were broken when a figure sat down next to him with a laugh._

 

_“Moping again, Liam?” Rebecca asked with a smile, her cheeks flushed and her champagne glass full._

 

_He grimaced when she roped an arm around his neck and pulled him close._

 

_“Come on, be happy for me! I’m getting married!”_

 

_“To my sister,” he replied with a grumble. “Why would I be happy about that? You’re the only friend I have left, and you’re resigning yourself to a lifetime of living with the most egocentric person on the planet.”_

 

_“Oh, did you think you were moving in with us?” Rebecca replied with a smirk, making the green-eyed boy’s scowl deepen._

 

_“Yeah, yeah. Haha.”_

 

_She gave him a soft smile and nudged his shoulder with her own._

 

_“Come on, you’re at the party of the century. Everyone is here! Your whole family, my whole family, celebrities! And pretty soon, your going to be my brother for real, you’ve got to be excited about that.”_

 

_“Yeah,” Liam said with a huff, his eyes drifting to his laughing sister standing in the middle of the dance floor, talking to her friends. His gaze moved across the room, drifting over his aunts, uncles and cousins and settled on his parents talking to Cat Grant. His Mom with her head thrown back in laughter at whatever the still Queen of Media had just said, and leaning into the side of her wife._

 

_Kara seemed to feel the eyes on her and turned her gaze to lock with Liam’s. He averted his face immediately and stared back down at the floor._

 

_Rebecca placed a gentle hand on his back._

 

_“Hey, you ok there buddy?” She asked with concern._

 

_He grimaced again briefly, before forcing a smile on his face and waving her off._

 

_“Yeah, I’m fine,” Liam replied quickly, before turning to look at her properly._

 

_He took in her happy face, and easy smile and couldn’t help his uneasiness melt a little. Liam’s smile turned into a real one, and he gave her a soft look._

 

_“She makes you happy, huh?” He asked gently._

 

_“Just clueing onto that now are you?” Rebecca said with another happy laugh._

 

_Liam returned her one-armed hug._

 

_“Then I’m happy for you.”_

 

_She gripped him tight briefly, but their hug was broken by a soft tug on his sleeve. He turned to see a grinning Nina staring up at him with a gap-toothed smile._

 

_“You said you’d dance with me, Liam!” The young girl said in a demanding voice._

 

_He laughed at her tone, and Rebecca released him with a grin and a push towards the little girl._

 

_“Go on, if you have a bit of fun nobody will hold it against you.”_

 

_Suddenly, Kia appeared beside them with a wide grin, equally flushed from whatever alien alcohol she was drinking in her own champagne flute. She sat in Rebecca’s lap, roped her hands around her neck and gave her a long kiss. Nina and Liam both pulled equally grossed out faces._

 

_“Jesus, PDA much?” The green-eyed teenager said with disgust._

 

_Kia rolled her eyes at him but didn’t move from her spot._

 

_“I just came to see why you were holding my future wife hostage in the corner,” she said with a smirk that made her brother’s mouth twitch down._

 

_Nina was quickly growing impatient with the talk and started to pout._

 

_“Come on, Liam! This is my jam!” Nina said with a huff, tugging him away from a smiling Rebecca, while his sister stared down at her adoringly._

 

_He let himself be pulled away._

 

* * *

 

“Yeah, I remember you went home with one of Kia’s swim team friends,” he said, pausing in his walk.

 

She leant back in her chair, and her face became wistful.

 

“We didn’t leave that hotel room for three days,” Cat said in a far-off tone.

 

Liam’s face grew uncomfortable.

 

“….ok.”

 

Her eyes refocused on him after a minute, and she looked him up and down.

 

“Hmm, you seemed happier then.”

 

Liam snorted.

 

“I was miserable then.”

 

A pause stretched.

 

“Like I said,” she repeated slowly. “You seemed happier then.”

 

Liam watched her carefully, his thoughts confused. After five seconds she gave him an annoyed look.

 

“What are you waiting for, a gold star?”

 

Liam turned on his heel and left the office with a creased brow and a headache. Walking past the still harried assistant, he made his way to the couch were Nina was still waiting

 

“How did go?” She asked, standing to her feet.

 

He didn’t reply for a minute, before shaking his head with a half-smile.

 

“Wasn’t so much a fluff piece, as a nuclear attack. It was an experience, that’s for sure. If you don’t have anything you’d like to do, is it cool if we go home? I think I wanna lick my wounds for a bit and think.”

 

She stared at him briefly before nodding. They entered the elevator in silence, and she spoke softly once the doors closed.

 

“Your’s was way longer than your sister’s, but she looked like she’d been raked over coals too.”

 

He nodded his head.

 

“That why you took her out for ice cream?”

 

She arched an eyebrow.

 

“I’m only taking you if you’re paying.”

 

Liam laughed and shook his head, before shoving his hands deep into his pockets and staring at the string of numbers descending.

 

“She’s going to murder Mom tomorrow,” he said finally, before stepping out once the doors opened.

 

“It’ll definitely be an experience,” Nina muttered as she followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, first of all, peeps I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I kind of got a bit lost with this fic and slight disenchanted... Also, this particular chapter was quite emotional for me and very difficult to write. THIRDLY, when I posted my LAST CHAPTER I think a whole bunch of you subscribers might not have gotten the update so maybe worth a check.

Lena fell backwards on her bed with a soft sigh and stared up at the ceiling. She tried to distract herself by counting the number of spiderweb cracks in the of the ceiling. 

 

It could do with a new coat.

 

The CEO had deliberately bought this place, knowing it would need a lot of work. 

 

A fixer-upper, just like her life currently. Just like everyone’s lives.

 

Sometimes she wondered if she was getting too old for her job. For so many years now, it had been the thing that consumed her. Distracted her away from all the problems and fuck-ups that had happened in her life. As if drowning herself in paperwork would solve anything. 

 

It was Lena’s form of therapy and had always been her refuge. But it was also bloody hard work. Lately, the board had been on her back about her retirement. Even though Lena had given no indication of slowing down in her work, a swath of rumours had sprung up the second the media had cottoned on that Liam had returned home. For some reason, his arrival had pulled the plug on a bathtub worth of trouble at her work, with board members making subtle hints about her moving on to enjoy her son’s return. 

 

Spending her time trying to force the stingy old windbags to finance some of her more adventurous undertakings were hard enough. Adding the extra pressure of needing to prove herself competent was just adding unnecessary pressure. 

 

And didn’t she know all about unnecessary pressure?

 

Her drifting thoughts were broken by the sound of soft knocking on her door.

 

“Hey, Lena? You ok in there?”

 

The green-eyed woman winced as she sat up. 

 

Another plus of older age, back problems.

 

“Yeah… I’m fine,” she replied.

 

There was a pause on the other side of the door before Kara’s voice floated through the wood.

 

“How was the interview?”

 

_“I didn’t come here to be ambushed, Cat.”_

 

_“No, telling the truth is too inconvenient for you, I forgot.”_

 

“Fine.”

 

There was another small silence before the blonde spoke hesitantly.

 

“You don’t sound fine.”

 

Lena’s eyes turned to the closed door between them and a scowl grew on her face.

 

“Well, I am.”

 

“Hey, it’s ok. It’s just that I know Cat can be-“

 

The brunette stood up suddenly, strode to the door and opened it on the blonde’s surprised face.

 

“What Kara? Cat can be what?” 

 

The blue-eyed woman took a step back from the other woman’s fuming face and rested her weight on her cane. She raised her other hand in surrender.

 

“Woah, calm down. I just wanted to check if you were ok. No need to go-“

 

“Go what?” Lena replied, stepping forward into her ex-wife’s space and crossing her arms.“Go ‘full Luthor’?” 

 

Kara tilted her head in confusion.

 

“Lena, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

The fire in the brunette’s eyes dimmed momentarily, and the tension in her jaw slackened but only a second passed before she tightened it again

 

“Just stop lying. Did you know how bad that interview would be for me? What was it like? Did you plan it? Cat Grant standing up for her prodigy’s honour?”

 

The brunette pushed past her ex, stalked back down the corridor towards the kitchen. To her increasing rage, the blonde clopped after her quickly. The CEO poured herself a large glass of wine and took a huge gulp. Kara watched her, an unknown emotion flashing in her eyes.

 

“Lena, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m assuming the interview didn’t go well…”

 

The brunette let out a humourless laugh, drained the rest of her glass and filled it again.

 

“Go well? Go well! No, Kara. Unless you call being told I’m the same as my mother. The same person as my HOMICIDAL BROTHER!”

 

She finished with a scream, and nearly shattered the glass in her hand. The blonde watched her, crossing her arms while her face tightened.

 

“You knew the Cat was thorough,” she said in a guarded tone. “It’s Cat Grant, don’t tell me you were expecting an easy interview?”

 

She said it bluntly, and Lena was left scrambling for words.

 

“I wasn’t expecting to be treated like… like…. I was… am evil!”

 

A nerve twitched in Kara’s brow, and her lip twitched into a snarl briefly before she schooled her expression and turned to walk away. The brunette watched her, and her ire rose as she followed her quickly towards the living room.

 

“What? What was that?” She demanded, wanting to know what Kara had just thought.

 

The blonde turned to look at her and rolled her eyes.

 

“Stop being paranoid Lena.”

 

The CEO’s rage spilled over.

 

“Paranoid? No, tell me what that look was for.”

 

She said it demandingly and thrust her finger into her ex-wife’s face. Kara looked at it for a second in silence, before her own eyes flashed. The reporter glared at the CEO, and the room seemed to drop in temperature instantly.

 

“You know what, fine. What was it, huh? Didn’t sit well with you to be forced to listen to someone defending me? Someone who doesn’t view you as a tragic figure?”

 

Lena snarled.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?

 

The blonde opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself. She closed her eyes briefly, and the blank expression returned.

 

“I don’t want to get into this. Look, let’s just…. just have dinner.” 

 

At that, the woman turned at sat down on the edge of the couch, her eyes drifting out of focus. Lena looked down at her in shock, before a curdle of disdain grew in her stomach.

 

Her eyes narrowed.

 

“So it’s just that easy for you is it?” She said with spite.

 

At that, the blonde jumped to her feet with a slight wince of pain. 

 

“Easy? What about this entire situation, our entire life has ever been FICKING EASY!”

 

On the last yelled note, Kara bent to pick a paperweight off the nearby shelf and threw it against the opposite wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Lena was stunned momentarily by the display of violence, but her own rage quickly took over.

 

“Oh, please. Now you’re throwing things?” She said mockingly.

 

“Just stop, ok? JUST STOP!”

 

The blonde rounded on the other woman and stepped right into her personal space, her face red with anger and pain.

 

“You want to know how I feel? How I feel? My wife cheated on me. The love of my life cheated on me and then when I wanted to fix it, WHEN I WANTED TO FIX IT, you walked away. Any excuse to escape out marriage, right? I thought my son was a terrorist, and then he disappeared off the face of the earth. My daughter, our daughter, has had her heart torn apart again and again. WE ALL HAVE! I have, Lena. My wife… you cheated on me. You pushed poison into my heart. I had to get photos of you with her from Todd Peterson. TODD PETERSON LENA!”

 

At the last scream, Kara seemed to lose her steam. Her eyes filled with tears, and she stepped back. 

 

“Is this what you wanted from me?” She whispered, with pain in her voice. “To scream? To shout? To blame you? To give you the one thing you want more than anything else, and that’s for me to hate you.”

 

Lena felt her own pain rise in her chest, but she shoved it down.

 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

The blonde gave her a searching look, that turned to pity.

 

“I know you, Lena. I know everything about you. You knew I wouldn’t have left you for anything, so you did something so horrible that I wouldn’t have a choice.”

 

Lena’s eyes closed and she shuddered. A pause grew between them before she whispered out in pain. 

 

“Stop it.”

 

The brunette suddenly turned and moved to walk away. Kara rushed to cut in front of her, stopping her in her path.

 

“NO! I won’t stop. Not anymore. I’ve been hung up on you since the minute we met, and you know what our marriage meant to me. For me. For my culture. For who I am as a Kryptonian.”

 

Lena looked at her blankly.

 

“So you would have remained with me regardless of anything.”

 

The hero moved to cup the other woman’s cheek, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

 

“Lena, I loved you. I still love you.”

 

The CEO stepped back like she was shocked and stared at the other woman as if she was crazy, A hint of fear in her eyes.

 

“Why? WHY!”

 

Kara’s face morphed into anguish.

 

“I DON’T KNOW LENA? Why does anyone love anyone?”

 

Lena let out a laugh.

 

“Mutual trust, respect, loyalty?” She said desperately, willing Kara to understand.

 

The blonde stared at her hard, before speaking slowly her eyes riveted on Lena’s.

 

“Tell me then Lena, do you still love me?”

 

A breath escaped the CEO, and her eyes flickered downwards. The quiet grew in the room between them, Kara still clearly waiting for an answer. Lena shook her head and began to take hesitant steps backwards.

 

“I can’t do this.”

 

Kara stepped forward and forced Lena to look at her fierce eyes with a single finger under her chin.

 

“No! Sit down. You owe me this. For all these years without answers. For everything that’s happened, that’s unresolved BECAUSE YOU RAN AWAY. So sit down.”

 

Lena reluctantly moved to the couch and sat, while Kara paced in front of her.

 

“This self-imposed exile bullshit has gone on long enough. What kind of an example are you setting for our children, are you setting for our son? Clearly running away from his problems is a genetic trait. Liam coming back has changed everything. And as angry as I was, still am, with things that he’s done…”

 

The blonde suddenly quit her pacing and looked down at Lena.

 

“You know what, I sick of doing this. Everything can’t always be about Liam. That’s what’s caused all this, isn’t it? Things are about Liam.”

 

“That’s what happens when you have children Kara,” the brunette replied emotionlessly.

 

Kara moved to sit next to the other woman, Lena jerking away.

 

“No, but it’s more than that. For us, it’s all twisted inside like a complicated ball of yarn.”

 

“Maybe…”

 

The blonde was quiet for a second, before shifting further away from the brunette herself.

 

“Don’t commit to an answer,” she said bitterly. “Is that how you remain so detached? From it? From me?”  


 

Lena stood quickly, and her ex-wife followed her just as fast. Kara’s look changed to one of disdain, and she narrowed her eyes.

 

“You’re just like him, Lena. You’re where he learnt it. You run away from your problems. Completely terrified of allowing the people you pissed off a chance to tell you how they feel. Because you’re too busy, loving the feeling of living in your own despair. Whining about how terrible a person you are, that you can’t possibly let anyone else say it to your face. And why would you?” 

 

The blonde stepped closer to her ex-wife.

 

“Much more convenient to shield yourself, by being to the only person allowed to hate you.”

 

Lena winced.

 

“That’s not fair, Kara.”

 

It was the reporter’s turn to laugh mirthlessly.

 

“Not fair? Not fair! Says the woman who broke my heart by cheating on me. Like you break my heart every time I look at you.”

 

The brunette rolled her eyes, and her lips pursed.

 

“See? So it is all bullshit. You’ll never be able to forgive me. So what is this, you want me back so I can live with it for the rest of my life. The guilt of it?”

 

Kara looked at her and laughed again mockingly. The sound made Lena feel incredibly small.

 

“Why would I need to make you feel guilty, Lena? You do more to punish yourself than I ever could.”

 

The CEO crossed her arms defensively.

 

“Ahh, so that’s it. You resent to fact that I’m not giving you the opportunity to do it instead. Just like your sister. How could you possibly want this back.”

 

Kara slammed her hand against the wall.

 

“You never gave me the choice Lena. You’ve made every single decision in our entire relationship since we had to kids. And you’ve made every single design since Liam left. The affair? Jesus Christ, I wasn’t even given the chance to tell you how I felt before you made the choice to get divorced. You pre-planned how I would feel about it. You pre-planned the divorce. What kind of cold human does that?”

 

Lena began to cry with anger.

 

“Yes. I’m just another Luthor to you, aren’t I? And that’s all I ever will be.”

 

Kara gave her an incredulous look, before stepping close and staring down at the CEO again.

 

“You’re so immature. Holding onto shit from the past. Playing the victim, even when you’re the perpetrator. Making everything about you. You’re so incredibly self-centred, it’s no wonder you’ve spent to last five years completely alone.”

 

Lena snarled back, her teeth gritting.

 

“Yeah. I was just waiting for our ‘terror’ of a son to come home, wasn’t I? That’s all I wanted according to you. Because missing him so much my heart hurt was just something I should have moved on from. You want to tell me I’ve made all the choices in our marriage, Kara? It’s because the only choice you made was to send our boy to prison. Then, never speak his name again. I couldn’t even talk to you about that. You refused to hear me. I wanted to heal with you Kara. I needed my wife too. I needed you. You pulled away from me.”

 

“Don’t tell me you cared what I wanted. Or Kia.”

 

A stab of pain lanced Lena’s heart, at the words and Kara’s unwavering face when she said them.

 

“Don’t you dare-“ she began with cold fury, but was cut off quickly by the chuckling Kara.

 

“You’ve always loved Liam more. Just admit it. You see him as your fragile baby, enternally trying to make him feel special because ‘how could he not feel less than compared to his sister and you’.”

 

It was Lena’s turn to slam her hand against the wall.

 

“I love both my children equally Kara. Get off your soap box, like you were the almighty mother. At least I never sent my child to prison for the rest of his life without even conducting A FUCKING INVESTIGATION!”

 

She screamed the last few words so loudly, the light fixtures shook.

 

The blonde yelled louder.

 

“I LOVE HIM JUST AS MUCH AS YOU DO LENA!” Kara beloved back. “IT DESTROYED ME TO DO WHAT I DID. But how could I ask someone else to make that choice instead of me? Should Alex have done it? Jonn? Who, but me, Lena? Tell me.”

 

Lena’s tears fell in earnest now.

 

“Anyone else, Kara. It could have been anyone else.”

 

The blonde’s eyes became pleading and filled with pain.

 

“Doing it myself killed me, Lena. But if it had been anyone else, a part of me would have hated them forever. The trade-off… was having you hate me forever.”

 

The last words were said softly, but they hit Lena like a cannon. She took a step backwards and stared at her ex, her eyes darting over Kara’s now defeated form.

 

“I… I can’t do this,” she said quietly, her eyes wide with fear. “I don’t want to do this.”

 

She turned, picked up her keys and purse and all but ran to the door.

 

“So, what? Are you running again? Terrified to face the truth?” Kara called after her, her arm reaching for Lena’s elbow.

 

The brunette yanked her arm from the other woman’s grasp and she stared at her with fear. The blonde was taken aback by the look and immediately took a step backwards. Lena started to cry again, but turned back to the door, opening it.

 

“JUST LET ME GO! For once, just let me go….” She whispered the last part hoarsely, and then she got no reply from the other woman she opened to door and closed it behind her with a soft click.

 

* * *

 

_“Darling, you home?” Lena called as she entered the apartment._

 

_The green-eyed woman didn’t receive a reply but could hear the murmuring of the TV in the lounge room._

 

_“Kara?” She questioned again, as she dumped her bag on the dining room table, kicking her heels off and walking down the hallway towards the noise. Lena rounded the corner to find her snoring girlfriend, curled up on the couch under a blanket with a littering of used tissues scattered around her. Lena’s brow crinkled in concern, and she sat down gently next to Kara, causing the hero to stir._

 

_“….hey….,” she said weakly with a scratchy voice._

 

_The CEO placed the back of her hand on the other woman’s forehead._

 

_“You’re burning up, darling,” she said in a worried voice. “Did you blow your powers out today?”_

 

_Kara nodded weakly and clutched at her girlfriend’s hand so she could hold it._

 

_The blonde gave her a weak smile and stared at her hazily and with half-lidded eyes._

 

_“….yeah,” she finally answered with a slight sigh. “He was big….. and hairy….”_

 

_Lena’s lip curled slightly upwards at Kara’s exasperated voice, but she still stared down at her with concern._

 

_“Kara, you sound really ill. Maybe I should call Alex.”_

 

_The blonde shook her head._

 

_“Don’t…. It’s ok, it’s happened before so I know the drill,” she said, struggling to sit up, much to her girlfriend’s dismay._

 

_“And I’ve already taken some medication. All I want right now… is for you to lie down right next to me…. though fair warning, I might be a bit sweaty…. though you’re pretty used to that by now….” she said, finishing with an attempt at a sultry wink. It was diminished somewhat by the fact she was looking at a point slightly to the left of Lena._

 

_“Are you sure?” Lena asked once again._

 

_Kara nodded with a small smile, pulled back the blanket._

 

_The brunette wedged herself into the small space between her girlfriend and the couch and wrapped her arms around the blonde. Kara let loose a contented sigh and relaxed into the embrace. The pair watched the television, though the blonde spent most of the time struggling with sleep. Lena the majority of it watching her girlfriend with fondness… and with a weird paranoia to make sure her girlfriend was still breathing._

 

_“… stop thinking so loud, and stop worrying…” Kara said sleepily, shifting in Lena’s arms._

 

_The brunette placed a gentle kiss on her the other woman’s head._

 

_“I can’t help it darling… I’ve never seen you sick, you have to let me stress a little bit.”_

 

_Kara hummed._

 

_“…..I thought your heart sounded loud when you when you came in…..”_

 

_The CEO couldn’t help take a half breath but tried to keep the beat in her chest slow. She needn’t have worried about her girlfriend picking up on the unusual sound as she had fallen back asleep._

 

_Lena sighed softly, and closed her own eyes, pressing herself closer to the hero._

 

_She wouldn’t think about the engagement ring in her pocket until she woke._

 

* * *

 

Lena walked into her office, immediately and viciously kicking off her heels into the furthest of the room. She walked into the centre of the office, and just stood their briefly. The numbest she had felt since she had walked out of her own apartment, leaving an angry and upset Kara watching after her, suddenly dissipated.

 

“FUCK!” She screamed, throwing her handbag down on the glass of her desk so hard a crack formed.

 

She pressed her shaking hand to her forehead, and tried taking a deep breath to calm the pounding of her heart.

 

It didn’t work.

 

The CEO suddenly wiped the contents of her desk onto the floor with a crash and proceeded to tear apart the rest of her office. It was once she was surrounded by booked and loose staples from when her stapler had exploded, that the rage and guilt she felt at herself manifested in tears.

 

The green-eyed woman collapsed on her couch and started to cry in earnest. Lena cradled her head in her shaking hands and rocked back and forth slightly. 

 

She’d done it again, Lena knew that. The brunette had confirmed the harsh words that her ex-wife had thrown at her.

 

_“You run away from your problems.”_

 

_“Playing the victim. Even when you’re the perpetrator.”_

 

_“It’s no wonder you’ve spent the last five years completely alone.”_

 

She couldn’t handle this. Lena had no idea why she ever thought she could’ve handled this. In the last five years, small and selfish part of her yearned for a different life. A life where she could still be just as alone, but without having ever experienced a real family. And real friends. And her children. 

 

Only to never have them again.

 

Lena knew, that when Liam had come back she had latched onto the opportunity of having at least one person, one child, back who belonged to her. Didn’t look at her, knowing what she had done. Someone who loved her, in a way that didn’t make her feel undeserving of that love.

 

Guilty, that anyone could still love her.

 

Her ex-wife was right. She’d dug a hole out of her self-loathing and locked herself inside. And as much as that in itself could be overanalysed, she’d never given anyone, let alone Kara, the chance to truly tell her how they felt. How angry they were, how angry they might be.

 

Now, it left Lena feeling somewhat like an absentee parent. She was a shit person for what she had done. The CEO hadn’t just broken Kara’s trust with what she did, but her daughter’s as well.

 

And her family’s.

 

Then she’d committed another terrible crime, by forcing them to deal with their anger on their own, without owning up to it. Letting them, allowing them, to tell her how they really felt. To give them that closure.

 

She did favour, Liam. Lena knew that. 

 

And even though she felt guilty for not standing up for him when Kara had decided his sentence, she felt even more guilty about what she had done to her daughter. Kia, who had already had her life torn apart, then not even have the support of her parents together to hold her up. Their divorce had just reinforced the idea that she had to struggle on her own. The green-eyed woman’s guilt over how she’d hurt her, stopping her from helping her when she so desperately needed it.

 

Only to feel more guilty for not helping her, and continuing to stay away.

 

It was a vicious cycle. 

 

She needed to step up to the plate and stop behaving like a child.

 

Lena finally looked up from her hands, and her eyes drifted over to the shattered picture frame lying on the ground. The brunette stood, bent and picked it up. The CEO looked the family shot wistfully.

 

Her kids, young and happy. 

 

Liam as a baby, laugh gurgling. 

 

Kia, looking carefree and unburdened.

 

Kara, looking at her with love that wasn’t layered with pain.

 

And Lena herself. Just so damn happy with her life.

 

A realisation crashed over the older woman, and she lowered the frame, placing it gently as the single object on her desk.

 

She had been living in a trap for the past few months. Reminiscing about the past life she’d lost, and the fact that she would never get it back. Lena had never allowed herself to fully embrace that a new life might be possible. 

 

Not perfect, not with all that had happened and with the threats they still faced.

 

But a life she still wanted. Were the people that mattered to her were happy.

 

Her daughter could smile easily, even if it was jaded.

 

Liam had earned his place back in his family.

 

And she could talk to her best friend again.

 

* * *

 

“So you’re back.”

 

Kara said the words without anger but stared at Lena expectantly. Th brunette didn’t reply for a minute, gathering her words. She let out a soft sigh, before walking slowly to sit next to the other woman.

 

“I’m sorry I left,” she said softly. “You were right though, I do run away from this. From… us. I ran and ran and ran.” 

 

A beat passed before Lena continued.

 

“But I was right too, you need to Move on with your life Kara.”

 

She said the last part desperately, but her eyes filled her tears. The blonde reached out suddenly and grasped Lena’s hand tightly.

 

“How can I move on, when you keep pulling me in?” Kara said pleadingly, her own eyes desperate for an answer.

 

“I left you alone for ten years!” Lena cried.

 

Kara shook her head in denial.

 

“Don’t pretend you did that for me. You did that for yourself. Because it gives you some weird sense of comfort in punishing yourself.”

 

Lena snorted.

 

“Psychoanalysing me again are you?”

 

Kara gave her a pitying look.

 

“You want the truth, Lena? Your entire life people have been telling you things are your fault. It’s been happening to you for so long, you wear blame and regret like a blanket. And when you finally have a second to breathe. When there’s no one left to tell you those things, you tell them to yourself. You sabotage yourself so that you can put that blanket back on. It gives you security, to play the role of the bad guy. But that's just a role, Lena. And that role is fake. And you, existing in your dramatic bubble has stopped you from taking actual responsibility for your shit in the grown-up world we live in.”

 

Lena continued to cry, but her grip in Kara’s own tightened.

 

“What do you want me to say, Kara? I agree with you. I know I’m fucked up. What I don’t understand… For the life of me, I don’t understand… is why you’re here. Still, clinging to this.”

 

The blonde sighed.

 

“I don’t completely understand either Lena. All these years…. You hurt me. I’ve been torn apart so man times in my life, but what you did was… It betrayed everything that we had. It made everything that we had, seem… fake. And a part of me hated you for that. Maybe a part of me still does. You ruined all the good memories with what you did Lena.”

 

“I know,” Lena whispered painfully.

 

Kara sighed again.

 

“No, you don’t know. That’s the worst part of it. The hardest part. You’ve never let me say how I felt. How what you did hurt me. Instead, you ran. And I… I couldn’t get closure from that.”

 

Lena looked at the other woman with pity now.

 

“You didn’t want closure, Kara.”

 

The blonde shook her head in annoyance.

 

“You don’t know what I wanted.”

 

Lena pressed on.

 

“You told me, that you know who I am. But I know who you are too, Kara. You were never going to let me go.”

 

The other woman paused before she answered with tears.

 

“No. And I so badly wanted to.”

 

A silence stretched between them again, each staring down at their still joined hands for a minute before Kara spoke again in a choked voice.

 

“I was humiliated, Lena. It felt, humiliating.”

 

The pain hit Lena all over again. When she didn’t reply, Kara contained to speak.

 

“Did you really love her? You, know… I don’t really want to know.”

 

Lena thought about her answer, her mind lingering in memories.

 

“A part of me did. But it wasn’t really her I was in love with, it was the idea of her. The ease of it all. The lack of baggage.”

 

Kara passed, before she asked her next question, her voice filled with pain.

 

“Did you…. did you feel guilty? I mean, I know you did the whole ‘punish myself thing’ but… did you…?”

 

Lena paused again, before answering softly.

 

“I felt guilty. I felt relieved.”

 

Kara’s brow creased.

 

“Relieved?”

 

The CEO didn’t speak for a minute, struggling internally with revealing how she truly felt about heir divorce.

 

“I thought… A part of me thought it was an out. And I was happy for an out. Of course, that didn’t really work out that well for me did it.”

 

She said the last part with a hysterical laugh, the quickly grew out of control. After a second, Kara’s own giggle joined the sound.

 

“I don’t know. I think you did a pretty spectacular job of exploding your life.”

 

“We shouldn’t laugh. Why are we laughing?” Lena demanded through her own breathless giggling.

 

Kara rubbed to tears from her eyes and answered with a smile.

 

“If you don’t laugh at life, all that would be left is crying.”

 

The laughter subsided, and the blonde looked at her seriously.

 

“I’m still angry at you. I’m furious even. I’m livid. I’m sad. But most of all, I’m tired.”

 

Lena stared at her with regret.

 

“You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy Kara.”

 

The blue-eyed woman gave her a soft look.

 

“Shouldn't that be advice you take for yourself?” she responded in a gentle voice.

 

Lena shook her head.

 

“I made my bed a long time ago Kara. And, I’m not unhappy with the way my life is going currently. But still, I don’t want to bring someone else into all…this mess.”

 

The blonde paused, before shrugging with a smile.

 

“Well, I could say the same.”

 

Lena looked at her. 

 

Pondering.

 

“But you’re here,” she finally said quietly.

 

Kara’s smile widened minutely.

 

“I’m here.”

 

A few seconds passed, and they both studied each other before Kara spoke softly.

 

“You know, there was something else we lost before our marriage fell apart. Before the affair, before the bombing. We lost our friendship.”

 

Lena’s eyebrow arched in surprise.

 

“You want to be friends again?”

 

Kara nodded.

 

“I don’t want this,” she said, gesturing between them.“I miss you. I’ve missed you for years. Nothing has been the same since.... and it’s hard to talk to anyone about it. My sister, she’s been so angry on my behalf and for so long. I know she wants to protect me. And I know she wants me to be happy. But you can’t demand someone be happy, but only if it’s in a way that you approve of.”

 

Lena’s eyes became fierce.

 

“She’s right though. You deserve better than me. No, let me finish. You deserve to have someone who’ll treat you like you’re their air. Like they couldn’t breathe, couldn’t live without your light. You’re so kind Kara, and so good. You’ve had to love through so much. It’s not your job to love me just because it seems to be the right thing to do. You don’t need to save me from me. Everything I’ve done... that’s on me.”

 

Kara shrugged.

 

“I made a vow, Lena. To love you, for better or worse.”

 

Lena became angry and she yanked her hand from Kara’s.

 

“I slept with someone else Kara. I broke the trust that was between us. We can never get that back. I’d spend the rest of my life, wondering if you’ll ever truly trust me again. And you’ll spend the rest of your’s wondering if you can.”

 

The blonde reached for her hand again, and Lena allowed her to lace their fingers together once again.

 

“You don’t know that. I’ve spent ten years without you Lena Luthor. A decision you admitted you made for us. That’s not what I wanted.”

 

“But it’s what you should have wanted,” Lena whispered.

 

Kara groaned in annoyance.

 

“Stop telling me what I should feel, Lena! You, Alex, Kia, everyone! You all want me to feel the way you want me to feel. Can’t I have my own opinion? My own thoughts? The fact is Lena, this wasn’t just a marriage that fell apart. This was MY marriage that fell apart. You cheated on me. Don’t tell me I should move on, don’t tell me I should be angry... don’t tell me I should forgive you, don’t tell me I should hate you. Stop thinking that I should react to this in a way that you would. Because you’re not me. You think a part of me didn’t wish to find someone else? For five years, I’ve been in my own. Alone and lonely. I’ve been angry, I’ve been sad. More than anything, I’ve hated myself for being unable to move past you. To move past what we had. I’ve been living in the past, wishing for it back for so long and now.... now I’m just tired Lena. I’m tired of holding onto the pain and the loneliness and the loss. I’m even tired of holding onto the love we had, the life we had. It’s a new world, and a new day. It’s time for me to let go of the pain I’ve been wearing around my own shoulders. And Alex.... she thinks I haven’t processed my anger. She thinks…”

 

Kara looked around the room with regret.

 

“I want to build a future for myself, Lena. With everything that’s been happening... I want to carve out a tiny bit of happiness for myself. I resent what my sister has. A wife who loves her, and a child who they have a healthy relationship with. It hurts me to see the damage in my daughter.

The pain that she’s had to live with. And Liam….”

 

Lena gave her a soft look.

 

“I never said it, but thank you for.... giving him a chance. I know people don’t think he deserves it.”

 

Kara didn’t respond before she smiled to herself.

 

“It’s not about deserve, it’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.”

 

Her eyes turned back to Lena’s with joy.

 

“And despite everything, I love my son. And I love you. Maybe we’ll never.... nothing will ever be the same anyway. I don’t want it to be the same. What we had before wasn’t perfect either. But I want to be able to talk to you again. As my friend. As someone’s opinion, I value. Someone I can trust.”

 

Her smile dimmed.

 

“But that’s what I want Lena. What do you want?” She asked.

 

Lena sighed.

 

“I don’t know. I want.... to change the past.”

 

The blonde let out a laugh.

 

“We can’t change the past Lena. But we can change how we deal with it. We are in charge of our future. But life isn’t happening to us, it’s happening for us.” 

 

Lena smirked at her ex.

 

“When did you get so wise.”

 

Kara gave her a cocky look.

 

“Well, I am Superwoman.”

 

Lena laughed, before looking deep into herself for an answer to Kara’s last question.

 

“I want to be there for our children Kara. My first priority is them. I want to rebuild my relationship with Kia. Be there for her. I know I’ve been in hibernation for the last five years. She was so angry at me about what happened between us, and I... I was a coward. You’re right, I did flee from the world. Figuring I was punishing myself, but that wasn’t fair to you. And it wasn’t fair to our daughter. I want to do better now. It’s always been easier for me with Liam. And it was.... a part of me was so willing to believe that he was telling the truth, that he wasn’t lying because he was so completely on my side. It was selfish, but I wanted that. I could love him easily and freely.”

 

Kara eyes began to tear.

 

“He’s Brought such pain to this family Lena. At the time, we both enabled it.”

 

Lena squeezed their joined hands.

 

“I know that. I know you think I idolise him. When he was younger, he was so sick that when he wasn’t any more... I’d let him get away with anything because I was just so happy he was still alive.”

 

Kara nodded.

 

“I know, I did too.”

 

Lena’s eyes drifted around the room, and when she next spoke it was more to herself.

 

“How do you find a balance between the love you bear for your child, and the pain they’ve created in their wake. And nothing’s simple.... he’s been through so much too.”

 

“A lot of his pain was self-inflicted Lena,” Kara said matter of factually.

 

Lena's eyes turned to her ex’s with desperation.

 

“But it still happened Kara. He still hurt and suffered and bled... he’s my son Kara. And I’ll always love him.”

 

Kara’s eyes began to tear.

 

“I love him too Lena. But.... he has to want to change. And as much as we may wish for it, it has to be his choice. And as much as I want to support him, and I do, I really do. A part of me just can’t trust him. I don’t think I’ll ever fully trust him again. I don’t think it’s fair for him to ask for complete trust from people. He’s still so entitled Lena. I truly think he believes that everyone just owes him forgiveness. Everyone has been so amazing about it. Too accommodating. And I know they’re doing it for me. To protect me, and stop me from falling apart because they know how much… It destroyed me last time, and how much hope I have to have Liam back in my life. Alex is trying to protect me as well, because she doesn’t want me hurt again. And… I’m mad at her for what she did, but she wasn’t wrong to do it. I don’t know why I was so desperate for him not to know.” 

 

Lena smiled understandingly at her.

 

“Because you wanted to protect him. And because you wanted to protect me, from how he would react.”

 

Kara shook her head and reached to trace her fingers against Lena’s cheek gently. Her eyes searching for something in Lena’s own. 

 

The brunette was transfixed.

 

“It’s because however irrotational and ridiculous as everyone on the planet may think it is… I still love you. And I miss you. I still want you. You’re the one. You’re my chosen.”

 

A single tear slipped from Lena’s eye, and she pulled back from the blonde’s hand with great reluctance.

 

“This isn’t Krypton, Kara,” she said with a haggard voice.

 

The blonde shook her head gently in agreement, but her mouth curled into a smile.

 

“I don’t care. I don’t care how anyone else wants this to be. Want’s us to be. I’m… everything I said before… It wasn’t all true, but some of it was. I do forgive you, Lena… because I love you. But its complicated, I still have a lot to work through, and I think you do too. I just want to do it together. So maybe, maybe we can be together again. But even if we don’t… at least we’ll have closure. And we can try to move on.”

 

Lena didn’t answer for a second, her mind flirting with her own fear before finally, she just gave in.

 

“Ok.”

 

Kara was surprised, if pleased.

 

“Ok?” She repeated back.

 

Lena shrugged helplessly.

 

“You’re right. And I agree with you. You were my best friend before anything else, and I think I miss that part of our relationship the most. I want to be in your life again Kara. I still don’t… I still think you should move on from me… But it is important that we finally work through this. Detangle it all… Together.”

 

The blonde smiled and sat back in her seat.

 

“Well, ok then.”

 

Lena squeezed their joined hands one last time before letting go.

 

“Ok, then.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what do we think? A fair bit to unpack there. Kara and Lena certainly have a lot to work through, but I will say there have been issues in their marriage dating back to when Liam first got sick WHICH WE WILL BE LEARNING MORE ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER! Also, did anyone notice my Wonder Woman line? God, I love that movie. Anyway, REGULAR UPDATES FROM NOW ON AGAIN! This I promise. Hope you enjoyed :)


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I've been feeling a bit down an outs this week but here is another chapter regardless. It may be a bit of a filler, but thems the breaks.

“HA! I win again. You really are as puny as I always thought you were.”

 

Gary threw his hands in the air triumphantly as he sank the eight-ball in the corner pocket. A wide grin stretched across his face as a scowling Liam placed a crumpled up twenty in his hand.

 

“Says the martian whose butt I’ve pulled out of the firing line no less than twenty fucking times,” the dark-haired man grumbled as he took a sip of his club soda and sat back down at the table.

 

Gary tutted at the younger man.

 

“You shouldn’t swear. There are ladies present,” the Martian said primly, gesturing to Nina and Kia.

 

Liam and his sister both took on identical affronted looks, making the similarities in their features remarkably apparent. The man pointed his finger at the martian’s face.

 

“First of all, when has that stopped you before-“

 

“And second of all, I swear all the fucking time,” Kia interjected, before knocking the shot she had in her hand back.

 

Nina gave her a worried look, which the older woman pointedly ignored. 

 

Gary rolled his eyes and continued on oblivious to the glances. 

 

“Vulgarity seems to run in your family then,” he answered with a prim sniff that made Liam snort.

 

“I don’t know where you learned it, your mothers are both so well spoken.”

 

Liam let out a laugh at that, and even Kia’s usually stoic face cracked a smile.

 

“Pfff, maybe in front of you. Game night at our house always included a few colourful words,” the dark-haired man said with a grin, reminiscing.

 

“According to Auntie Mags,” Kia continued.“Mama used to be an innocent butterfly. No matter how much Maggie would try to get her to drop an f-bomb she just wouldn’t do it. All ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’ and ‘darnit”. Then she started going out with Mom and picked up on all her bad habits.”

 

Liam gave his sister a thoughtful look.

 

“To be fair, they tried not to swear in front of us too much,” he said.

 

Kia arched an eyebrow and drank another shot before answering in a bitter tone.

 

“Pretty hard not to overhear all those fights they had when we were teenagers though.”

 

Nina frowned at that.

 

“Kara and Lena fought when you were teenagers? They always seemed to get along so well,’ she said, trailing off as she tried to remember decade-old memories.

 

Liam gave her a sympathetic look. 

 

“Well, you were just a kid Tweety. We all got into fights.”

 

Kia grinned.

 

“That’s why I spent the majority of my time out of the house,” she said in a proud tone.

 

Liam gave her an exasperated look.

 

“Pretty sure you did that because you were Miss Popular back then. All sunshine and rainbows. Didn’t you run for student body president?” He said with fake sweetness.

 

Kia’s face darkened instantly, and she clenched the table so hard it began to crack. Liam looked instantly regretful, and Nina shot him a warning look.

 

“Don’t do that thing where you assume how I’m feeling, or how I felt,” the older woman hissed out in a low tone. “You don’t know me well enough.”

 

The dark-haired man stared at her silently for a minute, waiting for his sister’s breathing to return to normal. His eyes lingered when Nina placed a calming hand on top of Kia’s arm. The action deflating his sister immediately.

 

“You’re right,” he finally said in an apologetic tone. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

 

Kia gave him a blunt nod in reply, before downing the final shot in front of her. Liam and Nina both tracked the movement in silence, while Gary observed his friend with a thoughtful look. The light haired hero grew uncomfortable quickly in the continued silence and coughed before speaking again.

 

“Regardless, shit got thrown down every now and then. They tried to do it away from us but… the perks of super hearing.”

 

The silence descended again, Kia’s dark tone doing nothing to lighten the mood. 

 

Gary suddenly spoke up with a cheerful tone.

 

“I killed my father when I was eight hundred and nine years old.”

 

Kia and Nina’s eyes snapped to the happy martian, while Liam instantly paled and gave him an incredulous look.

 

“Dude, why would you bring that up?” He said lowly and in a furious tone.

 

Gary shrugged in reply.

 

“You killed your own father?” Nina asked with wide eyes.

 

The martian nodded, before jerking his head in Liam’s direction.

 

“Liam helped.”

 

“WHAT?” Nina said furiously, her eyes rounding on Liam’s with fury. 

 

The dark-haired man threw his hands into the air immediately.

 

“Jesus Christ, it wasn’t like that. The guy was a slaver! He would go after war-torn planets and colonies, then pick up the lost souls to sell off to the gladiatorial pits.”

 

Nina’s angry expression flickered briefly with curiosity.

 

“Wait… gladiatorial pits?”

 

Liam grimaced and crossed his arms, lost in old memories.

 

“Space isn’t all advanced and sophisticated Nina,” he growled out. “Don’t forget that the Daxamite’s kept, slaves. Where do you think they bought them from?”

 

The younger woman stared at him briefly while her thoughts drifted to an image of her smiling father. She felt an instant pang of guilt and turned her eyes back down to the table as she nursed her drink.

 

“I guess nothing’s perfect,” she said dejectedly.

 

Liam felt a pang of annoyance at himself but remained silent. Kia watched him closely, appraising him, but didn’t utter a word. Gary looked at the three, sensing the tension once again. He quickly leant over the table and slapped Liam’s arm with a grin.

 

“Tell her about the time we got hired on the slave ship!” He said with a grin, while the younger man rubbed his sore shoulder, scowling.

 

“Gary, I am not telling that story. We said we’d never speak of it again,” he answered grumpily.

 

The martian rolled his eyes, before turning to face the two women with an excited grin.

 

“So this one time, the human and I infiltrated this slaver’s ship to find this kid, whose daddy paid a fortune to get back. Except, no one except Liam was dumb enough to go for the contract. Considering he was broke up to his eyeballs and owed me a bucket of money, he didn’t really have a choice.”

 

Kia let out a snort, while Liam spluttered.

 

“I wasn’t broke up to my eyeballs-“ He protested, but the martian cut him off with a steady look.

 

“You had to take an extra job selling _Nratock_ meat in the streets,” the alien replied in a monotone/

 

“What’s _Nratock_ meat?” Nina asked curiously.

 

Gary smiled.

 

“It comes from the rump of a-“

 

Liam cut him off quickly, glaring hard at the other man and willing him to shut up.

 

“It’s not relevant,” he said quickly.

 

The martian gave him an annoyed look, but let the point go and continued his story.

 

“Anyway, I tagged along. Didn’t want this idiot skipping out on me especially when I had already made such a huge investment. So we got into the ship, they hired us as members of the crew. Course it was janitorial, but people seriously underestimate how many places the maintenance crew had access too. So it turned out that this kid was being kept on the most secure level. basically next to the Captain’s quarters. She was a smart one and she definitely knew how much the kid was worth.”

 

“How did you get him out?” Nina said eagerly.

 

Kia even leaned in a little for the answer, making Liam roll his eyes and huff.

 

“Well, Liam here came up with the bright idea to stir up a mutiny amongst the crew. Got them thinking that the Captain was planning to take the whole bounty for the kid when they delivered the daddy’s boy to whoever paid for him. But, it didn’t really go as planned.”

 

“It was a solid plan!” Liam interjected with a scowl, that made Gary laugh but continue on regardless.

 

“Basically, the crew was too terrified of the Captain to go through with it and ratted him out. Long story short, Liam got hauled up to the Captain to be reprimanded.”

 

Nina's eyes darted to Liam, who was staring down at the table, before turning back to Gary.

 

“Then what happened,” she asked.

 

The martian lent back in his chair and gave the man opposite him an appraising look, Liam refusing to look up.

 

“Don’t rightly know, to be honest. Except, three days later, we’ve pulled into port at some backwater station and the Captain let both of us, and the kid, go.”

 

A silence descended, and Kia gave Gary a look of disbelief.

 

“What. Just like that?” She asked.

 

The martian shrugged, before leaning in again and whispering as if the end of the story was a great secret.

 

“All I know is, Liam went into those rooms with a shirt. And he came out without one.”

 

Nina turned her eyes to look at the green-eyed man with curiosity.

 

“So you seduced her?” She asked in a matter of fact tone.

 

“Man-whore,” his sister interjected with a smirk.

 

The man scowled at the hero, before turning his nose up at her.

 

“Don’t slut shame, Kia. I had to do what I had to do. Turns out, the old girl was pretty lonely. She needed someone to confide in and she figured since she was going to kill me anyway…”

 

“But you slept with her,” Nina interjected with an arched eyebrow.

 

Liam looked uncomfortable, while Kia hid a snort behind her hand.

 

“Well, it all worked out in the end,” Gary said cheerfully, taking a gulp of his own drink. “We got the bounty, and Liam got some. Of course, Vran wasn’t too happy once she found out.”

 

Nina frowned at the new name.

 

“Whose Vr-“

 

Liam cut her off quickly and glared fiercely at his martian friend across the table.

 

“Ok, that’s enough deep diving into the past. How about you show us the colour of your wallet for once, and buy the ladies another round.”

 

Gary frowned in annoyance but none the less pushed back his chair to stand.

 

“Fine. No need to get all testy.”

 

Liam watched him go with a frown, while Nina observed his expression closely. Kia narrowed her eyes at her brother and spoke in a slow drawl.

 

“He seemed to strike a nerve,” she asked, gaging the man’s reaction.

 

The bearded man glanced at his sister, before taking another sip of his drink and answering steadily.

 

“Gurtag knows all the skeletons in my closet. Well, at least all the space ones.”

 

Kia frowned at his answer but didn’t say anything further. Another silence was about to descend but it was broken when Nina asked her next question in a not so subtle tone.

 

“So, this Vran. Was she your girlfriend?”

 

Liam shrugged, but his face remained blank when he answered.

 

“She was a bounty hunter. We worked together for a bit,” he replied in a cold tone.

 

Nina hesitated, before pressing for more information.

 

“What happened to her?”

 

Liam grip cracked the edge of his glass.

 

“She died,” he answered simply.

 

Nina blanched.

 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she said weakly.

 

“Don’t be. it wasn’t your fault,” the dark-haired man bit out in reply.

 

Kia’s face became furious, and she poked her finger hard into her brother’s chest.

 

“She was just trying to be nice,” she said harshly, the glare in her eyes so strong they tinged with a bit of red.

 

Liam immediately threw his hands up in surrender.

 

“Woah. I wasn’t attacking her,” he exclaimed in a worried tone. “You don’t need to go all mama bear on me.”

 

Kia let out a growl, but she leaned back and out of Liam’s personal space. She glanced at Nina who was looking at her with a slightly shocked expression.

 

Her eyes immediately darted down to the table before she pushed herself out of her seat with a slight wobble 

 

“I’m going to see what’s happening with the drinks,” she muttered before staggering off.

 

Nina watched her with worry in her eyes, and Liam turned to face her with a scowl.

 

“What the hell was that all about,” he hissed out.

 

Nina raised her eyebrows at his acidic tone.

 

“Don’t look at me,” she replied.

 

Liam’s scowl deepened.

 

“Arent you besties now?” The man said sarcastically.

 

The younger woman’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Why do you keep saying that like its a bad thing?” She muttered.

 

Liam huffed and gave the woman across from him an exasperated look.

 

“Because now she thinks she’s got a claim on you.”

 

A rush of blood flooded Nina’s face, and she looked at Liam with a furious expression. The man’s sneer instantly changed to regret. But his apologetic look did nothing to stop her ire.

 

“As opposed to you? Jesus Christ, I’m not a possession!” She spat out.

 

Liam winced, and let out a sigh.

 

“I didn’t mean it like that-“ He began softly, but was instantly cut off when a hand grabbed the scruff of his shirt and lifted him to his feet.

  
“What did you just say to her?” Kia growled out.

 

Nina stood up instantly and tried to calm the situation down.

 

“Ok, I think this might be getting out of hand,” she said, but both the siblings ignored her, intent on glaring into each other’s eyes.

 

“What did you fucking say,” Kia hissed out again.

 

Liam’s lip twitched into a snarl and he answered in a low voice.

 

“Firstly, you heard just fine. Secondly, I apologise, Nina. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. Thirdly, what the fuck is up your butt today?”

 

Kia dropped her brother and he sprawled at her feet. She turned her furious eyes to face Nina instead.

 

“Why the hell am I here?” The blue-eyed woman bit out.

 

Nina sighed, before speaking softly while Liam scrambled to his feet with a scowl.

 

“Because you two both said to me separately that your parents would like you to become closer.”

 

Liam slammed his hand down on the table, making the glasses shake.

 

“So you figured you’d force to issue? Sorry to burst your bubble, Nina. But Kia and I will never b friends.”

 

His sister turned to him with narrowed eyes.

 

“Yeah, that tends to happen when you spend your life behaving like a brat and then join a fucking terrorist organisation.”

 

The other man’s hackles began to rise.

 

“Oh for fuck’s sake. That is not what happened!” He yelled.

 

Gary suddenly appeared beside his shoulder and tried to calm him down.

 

“Liam-“

 

The younger man cut him off and shrugged his hand away. He stepped closer to his sister.

 

“I didn’t just join a terrorist organisation,” he spat out.

 

Kia narrowed her eyes and gave him a cruel smile.

 

“Oh right, I forgot. Your boyfriend was a member, so you figured it was a good way to get in his pants.”

 

A second of silence stretched across the bar, as every patron seemed to lean in. Liam’s face, transformed to be filled with pain and rage. He let out a shout before he all but launched himself at his sister, wrestling her back so fast that they broke two tables.

 

Nina dived in to intervene, but Gary gripped her around her waist and held her back. Kia and Liam exchanged a number of super strong punches, which sometimes missed and dented the floor in places. Liam’s punches did nothing to harm his sister’s skin, but Kia’s managed to break numerous bones which let out loud snaps. They healed instantly, but the blood they spluttered out remained behind. 

 

Kia finally managed to twist their positions and pin her brother against the ground as he spat and screamed.

 

“Get off me!”  


 

“Don’t you dare-“ She hissed, but was instantly cut off by a loud bang.

 

The hero let go of her brother instantly, and every patron in the bar turned to find the bartender holding an alien type shotgun in the air and pointed at the ceiling.

 

“ENOUGH!” The two lidded woman shouted, her eyes boring in Kia and Liam’s heads. 

 

“Both of you, get the fuck out of my bar. Go kill each other somewhere else.”

 

Kia hesitated briefly, before Liam all but pushed her off him. They both stood, and as the other people watched in silence they stumbled out the door. Nina followed quickly, Gary trailing behind her as they exited the bar and into the alleyway. The younger woman’s eyes darted between the siblings as they both glared at each other with murderous expressions. Nina finally settled on Kia and moved to stand next to her, her hand stretching out. Kia shrugged her off before the other woman could say anything and took a few stumbling steps backwards.

 

“I have no interest in dealing with this shit,” she slurred out, before launching her self haphazardly into the sky and leaving a crater behind her.

 

The remaining three people watched her until she disappeared before Gary gave Liam a quick once over and let out a satisfied grunt.

 

“Well that escalated quickly,” he said sarcastically, causing Liam to give him a look. “If it’s alright with you, there was a cute girl back in the bar eyeing me up.”

 

Nina gave the martian an incredulous look, but Liam merely let out a snort and a smile.

 

“Go. Have fun,” he answered, making the alien grin wide before he turned on his heel and reentered to now loud again bar.

 

Nina watched him go with a stunned expression, before turning back to face Liam who was now trying to rub some of the drying blood off his face.

 

“Does he just do that?” She asked, shocked.

 

Liam tilted his head.

 

“Do what?” He asked.

 

Nina's eyes darted between the door and the man.

 

“Flee emotionally tense situations?” The younger woman finally said.

 

Liam grinned, making him look oddly scary in the dim light while his face was splattered with blood and some of his teeth grew back. 

 

“What can I say,” the dark-haired man said with a shrug. “He learned from the best.”

 

The man stopped his ministrations, perhaps realising it was futile to continue when he didn’t even have water to clean his face and began walking out of the alley and turned down the street. Nina stood still for a second while her brain caught up to her feet and she took off after him at a trot. She caught up to his elbow just as a woman and her daughter began to walk towards them, both of them blanching at the site of the tall man’s bloody face and crossing to the opposite side of the street quickly. Nina winced at the action, but Liam seemed unbothered. 

 

“Wait, where are you going?” Nina asked breathlessly.

 

The man shrugged and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

 

“I don’t know. For a walk I guess. You don’t have to come with me.”

 

Nina scowled but continued to follow him closely.

 

“It’s my job,” she replied.

 

The other man stopped suddenly, turning to her and giving her an exasperated look.

 

“Don’t even try to pretend like I’m not being shadowed wherever I go by DEO agents,” he said, his finger pointing to random people on the street and several roofs of buildings.

 

“Your presence at my side is hardly necessary.”

 

Nina flushed, making Liam smile and continue to walk in the same direction as before. The woman ran up behind him again and grabbed his elbow.

 

“I don’t want you to do something stupid,” she said softly.

 

Liam gave her an unreadable look, before letting out a soft sigh and rubbing his aching head.

 

“You know,” he said slowly. “Just because Gary left it doesn’t mean I need a shoulder to cry on right now.”

 

Nina stood her ground and spoke in a blunt tone.

 

“You just got into a massive argument with your sister,” she said matter of factly.

 

He shrugged and tilted his head. 

 

“Yes, and? She was the one to take off into the night like a dramatic eagle, not me,” he answered with a laugh.

 

Nina narrowed her eyes 

 

“You’re behaving oddly cavalier.”

 

Liam smirked.

 

“I’m always cavalier.”

 

“No, you’re always a prick,” she shot back with a growl, that made the taller man’s face fall. 

 

“Seriously? What the hell did I do?”

 

The younger woman threw her hands up in the air.

 

“Oh I don’t know,” she began sarcastically. “Start a bar fight with your sister?”

 

Liam let out a sigh, before returning to his walk. The other woman followed him, her temper beginning to fray at the edges before he finally let out a muttered and dejected reply.

 

“I don’t know why you even organised that. Nina, you need to learn this sooner or later. Kia and I are never going to be best friends. Sometimes I wonder if we will manage begrudging acquaintances We’re trying to be cordial with each other for our parent's sake. That’s it.”

 

Nina huffed at his answer.

 

“You know, I don’t get you. Sometimes you seem to have the emotional depth of a teaspoon-“

 

“Isn’t that a line from Harry Potter?” Liam interjected.

 

The woman barrelled on, ignoring his words.

 

“Then other times you cycle through emotions so fast it gives me whiplash.”

 

Liam laughed again.

 

“Well, I’m a man of many talents it would seem.”

 

Suddenly, he stopped again to face her with an apologetic look.

 

“Look, I’m sorry I lost my cool back there. I shouldn’t have…. The problem with Kia and me is we both know just how to bait each other. We’re very good at it.”

 

Nina stared up at the other man suspiciously, but his apology seemed sincere.

 

“Why did you say she’s making a claim on me?” She finally asked.

 

Liam’s face twisted briefly in a struggle before it slackened and he let out a sigh.

 

“Kia has always had more friends than me,” he began reluctantly. “When she was younger, she was just more personable. I only made two friends in my young life. One was Rebecca. Then, they fell in love. For a fucked up, jealous shit of a kid… That was a lot to take. I felt like she had stolen her from me. I guess… you were the first person I got to know again when I arrived back on Earth. I don’t like to share.”

 

She frowned at the man, before replying in a sharp tone.

 

“You don’t own me, Liam. I’m allowed to be friends with whoever I like.”

 

The bearded man smiled apologetically again.

 

“I know that, and I’m sorry. I… you’ll have to forgive me. In the process of trying to be a better person who doesn’t resent everyone around him I’m bound to have a few hiccups.”

 

Nina tried to interject, but Liam continued on.

 

“And yes, I know it does nothing to help my case.”

 

She paused before speaking.

 

“I was going to say, thank you for sharing that. You have been markedly more… open since Kara got injured.”

 

His face twisted briefly and a flash of something ugly crossed his eyes before it melted away. She frowned as she watched the change.

 

“Why the face?” She asked.

 

Again, he seemed reluctant to reply but did anyway, but with another sigh.

 

“Is it fucked up? That as she’s getting better, my anger is returning? It’s not the same but… I see her and Mom, and now I’m irritated with both of them.”

 

Nine tilted her head.

 

“Why?”

 

His eyes drifted over the street, lost in the mess of passing cars and people for a minute before he finally turned back to face her.

 

“I… It’s hard to explain. I don’t fully understand it myself. I don’t understand why Mom put herself in exile like she did. I mean, she seems to have emotionally whipped herself to death.”

 

“Well, she probably feels enormous guilt,” she replied easily.

 

His nose scrunched up in disgust.

 

“I don’t get it. I mean, I don’t know the whole story, right? You don’t either. Why are people… Forget it. I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

 

He muttered the final word, before starting to walk again and crossing the street.

 

“Where are you going now?” Nina called after him.

 

Liam didn’t turn to reply but scowled down at the pavement.

 

“To get a drink,” he growled out finally when she reached to touch his elbow. “I’m sick of being on this god damn rock, and not being allowed to have a drink.”

 

Nina sighed.

 

“Liam, you can’t,” she said gently.

 

Liam laughed humourlessly and gave her a scathing look.

 

“Oh, Jesus. Kia drinks herself to death every night, what’s wrong with me having one?”

 

Nina took a step back as if she was burned by his accusing tone, but pressed on with her words.

 

“Kia needs help. So do you. But nobody can force her to do anything.”

 

He grinned and laughed again.

 

“But they can force me?”

 

Nina gave him a look.

 

“Liam, for as long as you’ve been alive you’ve done exactly what Lena has told you to do.”

 

He frowned.

 

“Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeratio-“

 

She interrupted him easily.

 

“You’re a mommy’s boy. Suck it up.”

 

He stared at her with amusement but nodded his head to concede the point. They stood silently on the street for a few seconds, before he scuffed his shoe on the pavement and turned to look at her with a small grin.

 

“So… I shouldn’t have a drink?”

 

Nina sighed and folded her arms.

 

“Well, you can. I would advise against it. Alcohol doesn’t solve anything.”

 

Liam laughed again.

 

“It’s not supposed to solve anything. It’s supposed to numb everything. Besides, you’ve been perfectly content to join my sister on her drinking crusades.”

 

Nina was well aware. I was slowly killing her to watch Kia drown herself in alcohol every night they went out. Drown away her demons, just so she could give the younger woman a half-hearted hug and a smile. But Nina could only nudge Kia so far when it came to accepting help. If she pushed it too much, the other woman would ghost her for a few days before turning back up without an explanation. She hid it well. Nina doubted anyone but her, had been allowed close enough to see the extent of the problem. It was frustrating, that she didn’t know what she could do to help.

 

“Only because she’s far less insufferable than you,” she finally replied with a grunt.

 

Liam let out a mock gasp, and his hand fluttered over his heart as if he had been wounded.

 

“I’m offended by that.”

 

Nina stuck her tongue out at the man.

 

“Just because you’re offended, it doesn’t make it any less true,” she replied primly.

 

Liam grimaced, before finally taking a few steps and sitting down on a nearby bench. 

 

“Gah! I’m so sick of these deep chats,” he exclaimed. “Ever since I’ve been back all anyone ever wants to talk about with me is serious shit.”

 

Liam turned his head to look up at the still visible stars, surprised for once how the light pollution hadn’t completely blocked the view. Nina hesitated for a second, before taking the seat next to him and turning to look at the stars herself. They sat quietly next to each other, and the surrounding city noise seemed to fade away.

 

“What was it like. Up there?” Nina finally asked in a curious tone.

 

A breathtaking smile crossed Liam’s face, and the woman couldn’t help but notice that it made the man seem ten years younger than he was.

 

“It was… crazy. And mad. I could do anything and be anybody. It was really living. No family, nothing to weigh me down. I could float from place to place and be judged on myself the way I was right then and there. I could fight and fuck and gamble and drink. I solar surfed the stars. I lived like a king some days, and on others, I could barely run two credits together. Sometimes it was lonely but… It was a gift. The ability to reinvent me.”

 

She watched him closely, as his hands danced in the air during his explanation. His eyes lit with happiness.

 

“Do you regret coming back?” She asked.

 

Liam’s face fell slightly, to become more contemplative. He thought for a few seconds before replying in a soft voice.

 

“Sometimes. But all that freedom… after nine years, I built up my share of scars. In here,” he said, pointing to his chest.

 

“It was death and blood and pain. After a while, I guess I just realised that no matter where I go it follows me. It’s weird, sometimes I feel like there are so many different parts of myself battling to get out.”

 

Nina frowned in confusion.

 

“What do you mean?” She asked.

 

His face twisted, and he struggled to explain it in clear words.

 

“Well, there’s me as a kid. Being sick, that fucking hospital. Then there’s me with Cadmus. Everything that happened in that year that I can’t remember. Then there’s me, in space. Being Liam the Bounty Hunter. And now, there’s just me. Trying to figure out how all those other pieces come together into this new man.”

 

Nina absorbed his words, and let out a soft nod of understanding. 

 

“I think I understand that. At least a little. I know what it’s like trying to forge a path that’s your own. You still have to take the parts of the people that influenced you into account along the way. Growing up, the youngest of five. Carter is the perfect son.”

 

Liam snorted and gave her the side-eye.

 

“No offence, but he’s a dip shit.”

 

Nina shrugged.

 

“He’s just trying to honour Mom and Dad. I get it.”

 

He turned to give her sceptical look.

 

“Trust me. A prick can recognise a prick. And he, my friend, is a prick.”

 

She fought to hide her smile, but when it finally broke free a triumphant expression crossed his face.

 

“Well, maybe a little one,” she replied.

 

Liam smiled wider, and he turned to look back up at the stars.

 

“I heard Kia dropped him in the middle of the desert.”

 

Nina laughed.

 

“Yeah. That was pretty funny. He’s been pretty subdued since then, but he’s still hanging around.”

 

“What does he want?” Liam asked with a curious expression.

 

Nina huffed, before replying.

 

“He wants what Dad wants. Which is for me to come home. Dad would come himself but… I’m pretty sure Mom’s on my side. She was the one to push me out the door in the first place. She knew I wasn’t happy with the future Dad had plotted out for me.”

 

“What future was that?”

 

She waved her hands vaguely in the air.

 

“To be the junior Legionnaire. Preferably not in the field. Make me work with Caleb on the ship. Bad idea, considering I know nothing about computers. But I didn’t really want to go into the family business… Particularly not coddled like that.”

 

Liam nodded, before speaking softly.

 

“When I was a kid, all I wanted was to go into the family business.”

 

Nina sighed, her thoughts lost in the past.

 

“Yeah. It was different back then. I would see Dad taking Carter, Hannah and Mike out on missions and all I wanted was to be just like them. Course, I was the baby. And my older siblings had no interest in spending time with me.”

 

Liam nudged her shoulder with his own.

 

“Well, I liked spending time with you. You were a pretty cute kid. All tantrums and tears.”

 

Nina looked affronted.

 

“I wasn’t that bad!”

 

Liam nodded, his expression thoughtful.

 

“No, you could be pretty smart too. You would devour any book I gave you.”

 

She laughed at the memory.

 

“Yeah, remember that time you gave me Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?”

 

The bearded man grinned, remembering it himself.

 

“Mom freaked out. But you were only five, it’s not like you understood all the words anyway!”

 

Nina smiled as well, before speaking in a wistful tone.

 

“Well, it’s still my favourite book.”

 

Liam looked at her surprised.

 

“It is?”

 

Nina nodded.

 

“Sure. What’s not to like? Split personas. Good vs evil. Then you figure out it isn’t all black and white in the end after all.”

 

After a pause, Liam replied.

 

“Should I read into that at all?”

 

Nina gave him a look.

 

“Now, now. You were making progress. Don’t start thinking everything is about you again.”

 

“Sorry,” he replied with a smile.

 

They both relaxed in the relative quiet, staring up at the stars again for a few minutes before the other man continued to speak.

 

“I don’t regret it anymore,” he whispered.

 

“I’m sorry?” Nina replied, almost missing his words.

 

“Coming back. I don’t regret it anymore,” he repeated.

 

Nina tilted her head and observed the now stoic face of the other man. He remained quiet for a few more seconds before a forced smile etched itself onto his face.

 

“I mean. It’s the usual, isn’t it? Family drama, Cadmus, life or death struggles. But it’s home.”

 

Nina struggled with a reply.

 

“Well… good,” she finally said simply.

 

Liam turned to her with an earnest look quickly.

 

“I wasn’t trying to earn myself sympathy points. I just don’t know how to talk about my life without sounding like I’m trying to make people feel sorry for me. It’s a bit confusing. I feel like half to people hate me, and half of them like me. Come to think of it, I feel like half of me hates myself and half of me likes myself.”

 

Nina watched him with a soft look, observing his disturbed expression before she let out a small breath and nudged him with her shoulder.

 

“Well, everyone’s different. And everyone has their own perception of things. Of you.”

 

He hummed in reply but didn’t say anything else. Nina huffed and rolled her eyes, nudging him harder so that he turned to face her.

 

“You can’t spend the rest of your life trying to make people like you. All you can do is be the best version of yourself you can be. If people don’t accept that… Well, that’s their right. I mean, it’s not like you haven’t earned their ire. Maybe some people will never forgive you. You just have to accept it. You can’t hold it against them. It’s their choice if they want to or not.”

 

He stared at her for a minute closely, his eyes searching for something in her face before speaking in a small and vulnerable voice.

 

“What about you, do you forgive me?”

 

She didn’t reply for a minute while he held her gaze, it was only when he blinked that she finally looked away and answered his question.

 

“Liam, it’s hard for me to say. I was so young when everything happened. I think when I was little, I was angrier that you left me than anything else. I didn’t understand your connection to Cadmus and the bombing. When I grew older, well… I just kind of absorbed the pain from people around me.”

 

“And now?” He pressed for an answer.

 

Nina took a breath.

 

“I don’t think you’re a bad person Liam. But I don’t think you’re a good person either. I like you though. You’re funny when you haven’t got your head completely up your own arse. And it’s cool, seeing you with Gary. Good to know you’re capable of making friends. Even if they’re… probably less than savoury friends. And you clearly adore your Mom. That says something about your character. And it says something too, that you’re trying to be a better person I guess.”

 

Liam reached out gently, taking her hand in his own and giving it a quick squeeze. She turned to face him and was surprised to see tears had formed at the corners of his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry. For everything,” he said hoarsely. “For how I hurt you. I know words don’t mean as much as actions, but I am sorry. You deserved so much more than me. You all did.”

 

She squeezed his hand back in reply and gave him a soft smile.

 

“Well, it’s nice to hear you say it. And yes, I do forgive you. You’re not all there yet, and I suppose a lot of people don’t see it, but you are a different person than the one who landed here. Different in a good way I think.”

 

He laughed gently and released her hand.

 

“Well, that is high praise indeed,” he whispered, his eyes searching her face for something. After a minute, his mouth stretched into an easy smile and he moved to stand.

 

“Well, come on then. If I can’t drink, I might as well get you back home to bed. I know you’re a young whippersnapper but my old bones can’t take the stress anymore.”

 

“You self-heal!” She protested with a laugh.

 

He shrugged.

 

“I was just trying to be nice. Frankly, it’s past your bedtime.”

 

She scowled instantly and brushed past him on her way down the footpath.

 

“You know what, everything I said before I take back.”

 

“That's the spirit,” he said with a chuckle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, don't kill me for being over a month late with this update. To my credit, I was super focused on finishing my other fic which I did, then I had to write out the first chapter for my new fic before the idea escaped me THEN I tore a muscle in my shoulder so I've been finishing this chapter one-handed :( 
> 
> BUTTTT, never mind :) The chapter is here now and I'm committed one hundred per cent.

_“What do you want to be when you grow up?”_

 

_Liam stopped slurping his milkshake and looked up to see Tristan staring at him with a tilted head and a smile._

 

_The dark-haired boy put down his glass with a laugh and grinned over at the blonde boy._

 

_“What are we, five?” Liam asked with a laugh._

 

_Tristan leant back in his chair and lifted his arms wide, almost knocking down a passing waitress who scowled down at the other ball even as Liam stifled a laugh. Tristan spoke though, ignoring the dirty looks the tray carrying woman was giving him._

 

_“You’re the one who told me that you never got a chance to dream when you were a kid,” he said easily. “You spent all that time thinking you weren’t going to live past the next year…. Well, now that you’re cured… it’s the time to dream.”_

 

_Liam’s brow creased in thought at the other boy's words, shifting uncomfortably in his seat._

 

_“Well… what are you going to do?” He asked, throwing the words back._

 

_Tristan’s eyes flickered up to the ceiling and he shrugged._

 

_“I don’t know… college, travel, work for my Dad,” he answered._

 

_Liam grimaced at the words, the thought of a free spirit like Tristan working in the corporate world._

 

_Of himself, working in the corporate world and pushing papers._

 

_“Well that sounds thrilling,” the green-eyed boy answered dryly._

 

_Tristan let out a laugh at the words._

 

_“Hey, don’t sound so enthused. I’ll have you know my Dad does important work. It has been an honour to be a part of it,” he said sarcastically and with an eyeball._

 

_Liam smirked before tapping the edge of his glass and replying._

 

_“Don’t I know it…. I don’t know about me though…. I guess, college, travel and work for me,” he finally said._

 

_The blonde boy smiled genuinely at his words._

 

_“Where do you want to go to college?” He asked, leaning forward in his chair._

 

_Liam got lost for a second in the blue of the other boy's eyes before he shook his head and answered with a stutter._

 

_“I have no idea.”_

 

_Tristan watched him, his eyes slowly raking over Liam’s figure._

 

_“Well, what about travelling? Where do you want to go?” He asked, his eyes finally resting on Liam’s face with enough intensity to cause the boy to flush._

 

_The dark-haired boy shook his head._

 

_“I don’t know,” he answered finally._

 

_The older boy smirked._

 

_“Ok…. and work?” He asked._

 

_Liam’s eyes turned down to the table._

 

_“I don’t know,” he said with a whisper._

 

_His attention was brought back to the other boys' eyes when Tristan touched his hand gently. Liam looked up to see the blonde boy smiling at him easily, relaxing the youngest Luthor instantly._

 

_“Well, how about this,” the blonde boy said. “What’s one thing you want to do. Just one crazy, ridiculous, insane thing that you want to do before you die?”_

 

_Liam stared at the other boy for a full minute, absorbing his words while he looked at Tristan's features._

 

_“Kiss you,” he whispered out before he could stop himself._

 

_The other boy stared at him, his jaw gaping slightly, and Liam instantly flushed, folding in on himself as much as he possibly could. Tristan reached over with his hand, moving the touch the dark-haired boy’s, even as Liam pulled away at the gesture._

 

_“Liam-“ Tristan tried to say, but the green-eyed boy cut him off instantly._

 

_“I mean, you don’t have to…” he said, muffledly into his chest. “I’m not trying to like… pressure you or anything-“_

 

_Tristan cut him off, his hand reaching across the table to cup Liam’s cheek while standing to his feet._

 

_“Liam, shut up,” he said in a husky voice before leaning in for a deep kiss, biting at Liam’s bottom lip before pulling away completely._

 

_The dark-haired boy blinked, dazed slightly as he touched his tingling lips with his fingertips._

 

_“Wow…” he breathed out._

 

_Tristan sat back down in his seat with a satisfied look, winking at Liam before replying._

 

_“Yeah, wasn’t half bad,” he said with a smirk._

 

_Liam sat, staring at the other boy completely at a loss for words. After half a minute, Tristan's smile widened, and he made a continuing gesture with his hand._

 

_“Now it’s your turn to ask me what I want to do,” he said with a laugh._

 

_Liam blinked but followed the other boy’s instructions._

 

_“What do you want to do?” He asked._

 

_The blonde haired boy smiled gently at Liam for a while, before he tilted his head in thought._

 

_“I want to take you on a proper date,” he finally said, his eyes sparkling._

 

_Liam’s breath completely escaped him and he spent half a minute trying to recuperate his air._

 

_“Well…” He stuttered out, encouraged by the other boy’s easy smile. “I suppose that can be arranged.”_

 

* * *

 

“Ok, you’re all done now,” Alex said cooly, snapping her gloves as she took them off her hands.

 

Kara removed the portable headset her sister had placed on her forehead with a sigh.

 

“Alex-“ She tried to say but was quickly interrupted by the redheaded agent.

 

“Officially cleared for field work,” Alex said, turning her back to the blonde and making a show of organising some of her medical instruments.

 

Kara frowned and stood to her feet. 

 

“Alex-“

 

The agent interrupted her again, speaking over her. 

 

“So whenever you feel like returning to work-“

 

This time Kara groaned, and nearly shouted just to get her sister to stop talking.

 

“Alex! Rao, I’m trying to talk to you,” she pleaded, moving so was directly in Alex’s eyesight.

 

The shorthaired woman stared down at her desk, a crinkle forming in between her eyes before she focused back in her sister with a blank face.

 

“Ok,” she said simply, with no initiation in her voice.

 

The blonde hero stared at her sister. A swirl of resentment that had been sitting in her chest mixing with a bucket of growing regret that had been growing ever since the last time she had talked to her sister. Or rather, the last time she had argued with her sister the instant she woke up from Alex saving her life.

 

Kara felt the resentment and anger melt away, only to be replaced by a deep tiredness she had with the whole emotional toxicity that had been the situation ever since Liam had returned.

 

“Can we stop… this,” the blonde breathed out.“I don’t want to fight with you.”

 

Alex’s eyes became clouded, but her mouth twitched into a frown as her fingers clenched into a fist.

 

“What do you want from me, Kara?” She muttered angrily. “You want me to apologise? Well, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you think I betrayed your trust. But I’m not sorry about what I said,” she hissed out.

 

The blonde took a step forward, but her sister moved away.

 

“Alex-“

 

The redhead’s eyes snapped, and she all but snarled at the blonde.

 

“What do you want from me? To demand that I change how I feel?” Alex cried out, folding her arms across her chest. “Why should I? She hurt you.”

 

Alex turned her gaze to look throw the windows where Liam was waiting in the main hub of the DEO. Her lip curled slightly and she pointed towards the man before turning back to her sister.

 

“He hurt you. I was there, I saw how broken you were-“

 

Kara lost her temper at that.

 

“Everyone was broken, Alex!” She yelled.

 

The redhead shook her head at her sister, incredulous at her words. 

 

“Why is it so easy for you to forgive them?” She asked. "To forgive her.”

 

Kara’s thoughts turned to her ex-wife and the new fledgling hope that had been growing between them. Granted, the rose tinted glasses she had all but welded onto her head regarding a possible reconciliation, were starting to disappear. There was five years of serration between them and frankly, ten years of bad communication between them. They weren’t the same people they had been before. Lena was softer in many ways. When she was younger one of her main faults was her standoffishness and defensiveness. If she viewed anyone attacking her in any way, she would shut down and push them away. Lingering issues were treated coldly and silently, often time only addressed when Kara’s swirl of uncertainty towards the brunette finally bubbled over into anger territory did that have an explosive argument. Tears, screaming and makeup sex usually followed. As they were married, those things had gotten better. Kara had learned to be more forthright with her own feelings, no longer terrified that if she spoke her opinion Lena would push her away. And Lena learned to relax, acknowledging that just because the blonde disagreed with her it doesn’t mean that she was attacking her personally.

 

Then there was the time Kara referred to in her head as the ‘dark times’, anything post the bombing, where their relationship existed in a weird armistice period and they avoided each other. Then they didn’t speak to each other properly for other five years. 

 

And now… now they were both older and wiser. 

 

Well, maybe just older.

 

Things would never be the same, transported back to a time when she could fly into Lena’s apartment at three am in the morning because she saw that the woman was still up and doing work. Or back to a time when Lena would smile at her when the blonde was teaching Liam how to swim. 

 

Now Lena got tired in the evenings and made Thai food every Wednesday night. Kara had also been shocked to discover that her ex-wife had taken to knitting, even if she was terrible at it. 

 

But mostly, Lena had apparently done a complete reversal on how she used to behave. Now she was more likely to sit and stare at Kara then argue back if they had a disagreement. Kara had a deep belief that Lena’s fundamental self-loathing that had been fostered in her at a young age was just manifesting in a new way. 

 

She had completely given up on defending herself from any criticism thrown her way. At least any that was brought up about her relationship with Kara. The blonde was then put in a weird position of trying to navigate her own feelings about the matter, while simultaneously trying to adhere to her own issue of needing to make sure that Lena never felt like crap. 

 

All in all, it was going to be a long and difficult road to get back to any sort of equilibrium between them. 

 

To see if that was even possible. 

 

“It’s not easy, Alex,” she finally said in an exhausted voice. “It’ll never be easy. Why do you think it’s the weaker choice because I still love her.? The fact that I never stopped.”

 

Th redhead watched her closely, her own face relaxing for a second and for the first time Kara realised that her sister was getting older too. In fact, if it was anyone else Alex would be thinking about retirement. They were all getting older, and the issues between them were getting just as old. Kara was tired of having resentments between them. They were sisters and Alex was easily her best friend and the blonde didn’t want to break all that was between them.

 

Alex sighed, breaking her sister’s thoughts as she sat down on the edge of the medical gurney before speaking softly.

 

“Kara, you’re a good person. You’re my sister and I love you. You deserve to be with someone that knows that.”

 

The agent scowled, glaring down at the floor.

 

“She was an idiot to have given you up like that. And now you’ve what… moved back in with her? You and Liam and Lena all living together again like some big happy family?”

 

The blonde shook her head.

 

“It’s not like that Alex,” she said softly. “I needed to be monitored. Now that I’m better-“

 

The agent’s eyes snapped up to look at the blonde.

 

“I could have monitored you, Kara. Don’t kid yourself and pretend that you didn’t jump at the chance to be in the same apartment as her.”

 

The words lingered in the air between them, sitting heavily. 

 

“Why do you hate her so much?” Kara finally said in a broken voice.

 

Alex’s angry face cracked and the blonde was shocked to see the tears that sprung to her eyes. The redhead moved forward to touch her hand to Kara’s arm.

 

“I don’t hate her Kara. But forgive me for not trusting the woman that broke your heart.”

 

The blonde’s jaw tensed, but her own eyes began to swell with tears.

 

“You didn’t have to do what you did to her Alex. You didn’t have to-“

 

The redhead groaned and rubbed the side of her head.

 

“Look. I had just spent hours in surgery trying to save your life after your idiot son almost got you both killed. I told everyone he wasn’t ready for the field, and I was right. Against my better judgement, I let him come for that mission. It was dangerous. By allowing that, I put the lives of my people in danger. I put your life in danger. Hell, I even put his life in fucking danger. All because you wanted to have a bonding trip to get closer to your son? Then you almost died. You wanted me to coddle him from the truth.”

 

The words hit Kara in the centre of her chest, the small truth laced into them resonating.

 

“What you did was spiteful, Alex,” she whispered out.

 

The agent shook her head in disagreement.

 

“I told him the truth. The only reason you didn’t want him to know, was because you didn’t want to hurt Lena.”

 

Kara smiled sadly at her sister.

 

“And instead, you ended up hurting me. Alex, I love you. I love you so much. You’re my sister, and I know you’ve always had my back. I know you’ve always just wanted what’s best for me. But this was something that I asked you not to do. It wasn’t your call to make. I’m sorry, you’re right. Liam wasn’t ready for the field and I pushed it. I’m sorry, that once again I put you in the position of having to save my life.”

 

Alex took a step forward, her face distraught. 

 

“Kara-“

 

The hero cut her off, her voice shuddering slightly.

 

“I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t be angry with you. I’m not angry with you. I know you don’t like Liam. I know you don’t trust him. I know how you feel about Lena. I’m not asking you to change your mind. I respect you too much to do that. All I’m asking is that you respect me enough to make my own decisions on the matter. She’s always going to be part of my life in some form Alex.”

 

The redhead didn’t reply for a solid few minutes, simply watching Kara while her face twitched between various emotions until finally, she spoke in a strained voice. 

 

“I don’t have to forgive her?”

 

Kara let out a laugh at her sister’s begrudging question.

 

“No, you don’t,” the blonde answered. “But you don’t have to hate her on my behalf either”

 

The hero moved forward quickly and pulled her sister into a tight hug and was relieved when the other woman returned it with enthusiasm. 

 

After a few seconds, Alex whispered brokenly into her sister’s neck.

 

“I’m supposed to protect you. Even when you’re being too dumb to protect yourself.”

 

Kara rubbed her sister’s back before responding just as quietly.

 

“I know Alex. But this is my choice. I’ll respect yours, as long as you respect mine. If you don’t want Liam on missions anymore, I’ll back you up. It’s unsafe to have a man on your team you don’t trust. I respect that.”

 

The other woman pulled back from the hug and rubbed the corners of her eyes quickly, before taking a breath and replying in a grave voice.

 

“He came round to… apologise the other night.”

 

Kara blinked in surprise.

 

“He did?”

 

Alex nodded.

 

“Yeah…”

 

The blonde let out a breath but spoke again in an earnest voice.

 

“I can’t just stop loving him Alex. And it may be self-destructive and futile in your eyes, but I can’t just stop loving her either.”

 

The redhead rocked back on her heels, crossing her arms over her chest while she pondered her sister’s words. After a few seconds of tense silence, Alex nodded, the gesture immediately flooding Kara’s chest with relief. It may seem small, but even at their age, her sister’s acceptance was something she craved. A simple nod from Alex was enough to brighten her day.

 

The redhead moved closer and pulled Kara back into another hug.

 

“I love you, Kara. I just want what’s best for you.”

 

The blonde smiled, tears leaking from her own eyes.

 

“I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

J’onn watched the gathered group of people with a stoic expression. He had spent far too much of his time the last few months navigating an even more than usual emotional landmine with these people. Oftentimes the director was left wondering if this agency was less about stopping threats and more about making sure his people worked together like adults. 

 

Still, even though handling the Danvers clan was half his job, he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

 

They were his family after all.

 

“So,” he said, turning the gathered people towards him. “Now that we’re all here… I have some news.”

 

Liam’s forehead crinkled.

 

“What news?” He asked.

 

J’onn gestured for Winn to speak, and the smaller man moved and pressed a button to display of hologram of a Kryptonite molecule.

 

“We’ve discovered that the reason the Kryptonite that Superwoman was poisoned with didn’t show up on any of our readings and was so potent.”

 

The man zoomed in further, and the until it was obvious that the substance was actually made of even smaller robotic particles.

 

“It’s because it’s not just Kryptonite. It’s a mix of a synthetic kryptonite substance coated over microscopic nanobots.”

 

Kara frowned this time.

 

“Nanobots?” She questioned.

 

Winn nodded.

 

“Yes. Hence, why they were digging further and further into your lungs. As far as we can tell, this was to doubly ensure that you would die.”

 

There was an awkward silence at that, the memory of Kara lying on the operating table fresh in their minds. Alex glanced at Liam who was looking at his mother with a frown. Kara, meanwhile, was giving Winn an exasperated look while he stared at the ceiling. 

 

J’onn let out a huff.

 

“So someone must have known Kara was going to that factory?” He asked.

 

Alex shook her head.

 

“Or it was a precaution.”

 

Liam looked up at that and stared at his aunt with a questioning look.

 

“What was in that room that they didn’t want her to find?” He asked.

 

Winn was the one to answer again, bringing up another image on the hologram. This time it was of the strange podlike structure that Kara and Liam had found in on of the rooms underneath the warehouse. 

 

“It was evacuated, along with most of the other rooms. The only things we were able to recover was this. It’s broken, probably as they tried to pull it out, but it appears to be some sort of medical pod. Similar to the ones that the Legion has access too. It’s cruder, but seems advanced enough to keep someone in a suspended state.”

 

Liam stared hard at the picture, something in the corner of his mind buzzing like it had the first time he had seen the pod in person. People in the room continued to speak, but the words seemed to grow fuzzy and far away from Liam, as he zoned further out until a sharp pain hit his head.

 

_Struggling for breath._

 

_Pain, intense pain in his chest._

 

_A loud voice yelling in his head while it’s flooded with images._

 

_Opening his eyes under water._

 

_“Is he ready?”_

 

A hand suddenly shook his shoulder, breaking him out of his haziness to find his mother staring down at him with concern. 

 

“Liam? Are you ok?” She asked.

 

The man blinked up to see that the people in the room were staring at him with confusion. He shook his head and gave his mother a reassuring smile.

 

“No, I’m fine… it’s just… I swear I’ve seen that before,” he said, pointing at the hologram.

 

Alex took a step forward.

 

“Where?” She demanded.

 

He winced but struggled to place the weird vision he had.

 

“Sometimes, in my dreams, I see flashes of what happened to me when I was tortured by Cadmus. And that's there. I’ve never seen it before until I saw it that night.”

 

Kia spoke for the first time in a gruff voice.

 

“So, what, do you think this might have something to do with your superhuman abilities?”

Liam shrugged, eyeing the image carefully.

 

“I don’t know, it’s just that when I look at it I remember… drowning.”

 

A cold feeling ran down his spine at that, and he rubbed the centre of his chest. Something about the pod made him… terrified.

 

There was as silence in the room before Kia let out a groan.

 

“So once again, we’re at a dead end,” she said dryly. “Is there any good news?”

 

Winn flipped through his computer.

 

“There’s been an increase in chatter. Some of our leads are picking things up among to more xenophobic of the crazy anti-alien groups. Something big is coming, we just don’t know what.”

 

Kara spoke next.

  
“And the agents? The woman that died and the one we have in custody?”

 

Alex shook her head.

 

“Nothing new.”

 

Nina spoke next.

 

“What about the sniper? The one that shot her?” She asked.

 

Winn gave another regretful shake of his head.

 

“Another dead end.”

 

Kia groaned again and clenched her fist slow loudly a creaking sound followed and made everyone in the room wince.

 

“Well this is just fantastic,” she said in a frustrated voice. “A whole team of specialists and superheroes and we’re getting nowhere apart from arguments and injuries.”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow at her, the memory of their argument form last night fresh on his mind. His sister ignored that, however, and the room descended into since once more. After a minute, Liam made up his mind about something and stepped forward.

 

“I want to talk to him again,” he said.

 

Winn frowned at him.

 

“Who, the agent?” He asked.

 

The dark-haired man nodded.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Kia let out a bark of laughter.

 

“Because it went so well last time.”

 

J’onn spoke deeply next.

 

“I have to agree, Liam. The man hasn’t said a peep since the last time you spoke to him except to insult any agent who interacts with him and grin maniacally.”

Liam shook his head.

 

“All the same,” he said. “We have no other leads except him. I want to talk to him again. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. We can’t be worse off than we are now.”

 

As one, everyone in the room including J’onn, turned to look at Alex to say something. After a few seconds, the redhead stopped staring at the floor to give Liam an appraising look. After a few minutes of hard glaring, she let out a heavy sigh and nodded her permission.

 

“No torture. No attacks. We’re better than that.”

 

Liam nodded.

 

“Noted.”

 

The room relaxed at that and everyone let out a breath.

 

“Do you want anyone with you?” J’onn asked.

 

Liam thought about it, before nodding towards his aunt. 

 

“Alex. She knows what she’s doing, and once I get him talking, she’ll know where to press. I’ve always been more brute force then subtle anyway.”

 

There was another pause while the room gave him incredulous looks. Alex however, allowed herself a small smile and nodded once more. After that gesture, Kara gave her son a concerned look and punched Liam lightly in the shoulder.

 

“Please, don’t get yourself killed in there,” she said.

 

Liam grinned at his mother.

 

“Relax. It’ll be fine. Just a friendly chat between an ex Cadmus member, a current one and a DEO agent. What could possibly go wrong.” 

 

* * *

 

“So… How’s your stay here been thus far?” Liam said in a sing-song voice that made his aunt roll her eyes. 

 

“Enjoying it? Getting enough to eat?” He questioned, before looking around the holding cell with a nod. “One thing I always wondered about this place, is if they leave the lights on all night. I mean, I always have trouble sleeping with the light on so I wonder if you do too. I know from experience how much a ruined sleep cycle can affect my overall satisfaction with my day. And don’t even get me started on how it messes with my moods! That’s a whole other kettle of fish.”

 

Alex gave her nephew an incredulous look at his ridiculously out of place small talk but noted with surprise that the prisoner had displayed his first bit of different behaviour in months and was giving Liam a confused look. The younger man continued along his strange trail of thought as if no one was looking at him strangely.

 

“It’s really interesting all the things that have happened since we last spoke. The usual I guess, family drama and blah blah blah. But I also had a few exciting things going on at the same time. I went to the zoo for my birthday, and I met this really agro lady. Might have been a friend of yours.”

 

Liam pulled out a photo of the headless agent who had been killed at the zoo and slid it over for the other man to see.

 

“Do you recognise her? Unfortunately, she’s a bit difficult to ID given the fact that her head was blown off by a sniper. But she did manage to get a good stab in my side.”

 

The man’s eyelid twitched, and a satisfied glint grew in Liam’s eye.

 

“See, the funny thing is, I don’t reckon that she was one of us. No special abilities. Although to be fair, I’ve never blown up my own head to test the theory. I would ask if you wanted to volunteer, but I don’t think they’ll let us do that here.”

 

Liam leant back in his chair and cracked his knuckles while Alex’s face remained blank.

 

“Apart from that, only one other major thing. We found an old Cadmus base. There was a nasty surprise in there though. A super special kryptonite bone that seemed to be specifically designed to ensure the person on the receiving end of it would die. Superwoman, unfortunately, was on the receiving end of it.”

 

The air in the interrogation room seemed to drop suddenly and a chill seemed to emanate off the bearded man as he leant forward in his chair while a snarl grew on his face.

 

“See now, I really should thank you for that. Why, if it wasn’t for that bomb maybe I’d still be sitting here thinking that Superwoman was responsible for all my problems. I’ve been cycling through a few emotions lately. It’s all been quite confusing, but this morning I woke up with a revelation. I’m no longer pissed, I’m focused.”

 

He pressed a finger against the metal table and it slowly began to concave under its weight.

 

“Now, there’s one thing you should know about me. I may be a half-breed, although that’s not technically accurate, I’m definitely a Luthor. Here’s the thing about Luthor’s. Once you piss us off and threaten people we care about, well… you better get the fuck out of our way.”

 

Liam smiled dangerously.

 

“Don’t forget,” he growled out. “I’m still Lex Luthor’s nephew and I have been told I’ve inherited his temperament.”

 

The man spat in Liam’s face suddenly and Alex fought an instinct to pull her gun out.

 

“You think you’re so clever, with all your clever words,” the man snarled out. “But you know nothing of anything at all. You are blind to the world, and what is coming for you.”

 

Liam let out a laugh, completely unfazed by the man’s anger.

 

“And what would that be?” He asked with a laugh. "More of Cadmus’ top agents like you? It’s doesn’t seem to have worked thus far. Given how subtle you lot have been about the rest of your operations I am very surprised with how erratic the last two attempts on my life have been. It’s almost as if…”

 

His words trailed off and his eyes became unfocused before a sudden and intense grin grew on his face.

 

“Oh, I get it now,” he said with a laugh. “The pieces are falling into place.”

 

There was a pause before the green-eyed man spoke in a teasing voice.

 

“You’re not Cadmus, are you?”

 

The man slammed his chains with a bang.

 

“I am Cadmus!” he shouted out.

 

Liam stood to his feet and loomed over the other man.

 

“Maybe once,” he sneered. “But not anymore I think.”

 

“You know nothing, mutt,” the prisoner spat out.

 

The youngest Luthor shook his head.

 

“It’s killing you, isn’t it? Me, sitting here while you’re in chains. Surrounded by aliens and alien sympathisers. And me and my family… A disgrace to the name of Luthor. Of course, at this point, the name has been more associated with good deeds than bad.”

 

The man glared at him with hatred in his eyes, his lip curled up.

 

“You think you know you’re family? You know nothing about what a Luthor is.”

 

Liam laughed.

 

“And I suppose you do? Are you an expert on my family?”

 

“You and all your ilk…” the prisoner hissed out. “You’ve polluted the blood.”

 

Alex frowned, wondering what the hell that meant?

 

Liam pressed his advantage.

 

“Me? But I’m a human. Made only more by the experiments of Cadmus. You’ve definitely been subjected to the same… improvements.”

 

The other man smiled proudly.

 

“We are the chosen. We will rise where you have fallen.”

 

Liam tilted his head at that.

 

“But why so desperate to kill me, hmmm? Except… if that was what you wanted at all. That woman, in the park… it was almost as if she wanted to talk to me about something… Before she herself died. But surely you would have realised how stupid that was, how likely to fail… Unless you were so desperate it didn’t matter.”

 

There was a silence and Liam narrowed his eyes.

 

“You want me for something.”

 

The man shook his head.

 

“You’re not pure.”

 

The bearded man grinned.

 

“Funny, that’s what this one said right before her head was blown apart-“

 

Liam suddenly had the jump back when the man lunged for him across the table, his eyes wide and his mouth twisted into a snarl while he began to scream unintelligibly.

 

Alex stood to her feet and grabbed her nephew’s elbow, all but dragging him out of the room. The door to the shouting slamming closed behind them.

 

“Ok, Liam. That’s enough,” she said.

 

He shook his head furiously and tried to reopen the door but Alex blocked his entry.

 

“No!” He said in a frustrated voice. “We didn’t learn enough. We need to press him for more.”

 

Alex sighed, watching her nephew bubbling over with tense anxiety. After a few seconds, an inch of the ice wall she had built up blocking the young man from her emotionally melted away.

 

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him fidgeting. 

  
“Liam, you’ve got more out of him than we have in weeks,” she said gently.

 

The bearded man shook his head furiously.

 

  
“It didn’t mean anything! We need more information.”

 

He tried to move past her once again, but she blocked him more firmly with a hard glare.

 

“Liam,” she growled out. "I’m ordering you not to go back into that room without mine or the director’s express permission. Do you understand.”

 

There were a few tense seconds between them, Liam staring down at her with fury in his eyes. Alex came to a cold realisation that the dark-haired man did indeed look exactly like his uncle when he was enraged and it sent a shiver of discomfort down her spine. It was only when the man’s eyes softened and his face relaxed that she let out a breath.

 

“…yes,” he muttered, before frowning down at the floor.

 

That gesture reminded her of Kara.

 

She placed her hand back on his shoulder.

 

“Come on then, let’s comb through what he said and see if that leads us anywhere.”

 

* * *

 

_“So… you come here often?”_

 

_Kia shrugged nonchalantly, sliding over the cup of water she had collected across the cafeteria table before pulling out a chair for herself._

 

_“Well, I guess so,” she said easily. “My brother’s a regular here.”_

 

_Rebecca nodded from across her, taking a sip of water before readjusting the beanie on her head._

 

_“I think I’ve seen him around,” she answered with a grin._

 

_Kia looked around the hospital cafeteria, the place giving her the usual sense of discomfort. Exhausted nurses, indispersed with sad looking visitors prodding their hospital food with plastic forks. In all the time that Kia had visited the hospital over the years, she had successfully managed to avoid stepping foot in this place. But as long as Bec was in the hospital, Kia didn’t exactly have many options when it came to spending some quality time with her crush._

 

_Frankly, the fact that Bec had blown her off four times already had made Kia desperate._

 

_“Well, it’s also a pretty great place to meet chicks,” the older girl said with a grin, before making a big show of unwrapping her jello. “That and the food is great.”_

 

_Bec raised her eyebrows in amusement before moving fast to steal the jello before Kia could eat any._

 

_“Oh, yeah,” she said with a moan, eating a spoonful of it. “I can never get enough of the jello myself.”_

 

_Kia watched her with a smile, before leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands._

 

_“What’s your favourite, green or red?” She asked._

 

_The other girl tapped her chin thoughtfully._

 

_“Oh definitely green,” she said seriously. “Colour of life after all.”_

 

_The blue-eyed woman watched her closely for a minute before an awkward silence began to descend between them._

 

_“So…” Kia trailed off. “What do you like to do when you’re not in the hospital?”_

 

_The other girl’s mouth gaped in surprise and the blue-eyed girl kicked herself internally for her insensitivity._

 

_Before the older girl could splutter out a reply, Bec surprised her by letting out a laugh._

 

_“You know,” the girl said with a shit-eating grin. “Meet up with pretty and aloof girls. Add a bit of inflated ego and I’m a puddle on the floor.”_

 

_Kia relaxed slightly in her seat as Bec continued to laugh at her._

 

_“Is that right?” She replied with a smile. “Must be nice to get a break from your usual type with me then.”_

 

_Rebecca rolled her eyes._

 

_“Ok, I’ll give you that one.”_

 

_The young super narrowed her eyes, going in for the kill._

 

_“If you had to pick one thing to do before you died, what would it be?” She asked._

 

_The patient absorbed the question seriously, her fingers reaching up to readjust the beanie on her shaved head._

 

_“Oh, it’d definitely be to try the yellow jello,” she finally said. “I hear that shit is the bomb.”_

 

_The corner of Kia’s mouth turned up into a smile before she pushed herself to her feet_

 

_“I’ll make sure to get you some then.”_

 

_Bec watched her as she collected the yellow jello and placed it in front of her with a fresh spoon._

 

_“You trying to make all my dreams come true?” She teased._

 

_The other woman gave her a soft look._

 

_“It’d be nothing less than what you deserve.”_

 

_Kia felt a surge of satisfaction as she looked down at the other girl who flushed at the compliment. She internally high-fived herself for successfully managing to get a reaction to one of her lines._

 

_It surprised her that for once she really wanted a girl to like her._

 

_“Smooth talker,” Bec mumbled._

 

_The young hero moved forward so she was leaning on the table next to the sickly looking patient, looking down on her with a smile._

 

_“Does that mean I get a second date?”  
_

_Rebecca stared up at her with a hard glare, though the corner of her mouth twitched upwards at the words._

 

_“We’ll see.”_

 

* * *

 

“You ok?” Nina asked with concern as she walked up to Kia.

 

The woman turned from glaring down at the floor to glaring at Nina.

 

“I’m fine,” she muttered.

 

Nina took in her words with a raised eyebrow, eyeing the hero’s hunched posture up and down. 

 

“You don’t look fine,” she said flatly.

 

Kia’s eyes flashed and she took a half-step forward, moving around the younger the other woman quickly.

 

“I’m. Fine,” she said, walking away quickly and towards Kara who was standing nearby clearly pretending not to listen in on what they were talking about.

 

Nina followed her quickly.

 

“Kia-“

 

The younger cut her off, completely ignoring her while she stared at her mother who nearly jumped out of her skin when Kia spoke to her in an abrupt voice, laced with irritation. 

 

“Can we go flying?” She all but demanded of her blinking mother. “I mean, now that you can.”

 

Kara glanced between her daughter and Nina. The younger woman looked frustrated and was clearly biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. Kia’s face was tense, but he eyes were pleading.

 

“Sure,” Kara said easily, giving Nina an apologetic look.

 

Kia didn’t wait for anything else but used her super speed to launch herself into the sky. 

 

Kara blinked again at the action, before patting Nina on the shoulder gently and following her daughter into the sky. It took her a few seconds to hit her stride, phantom tingles in her lungs from where the Kryptonite particles had dug in. Still, she thought as she let out a breath and pushed herself to faster speeds while doing loops around the skyscrapers downtown. 

 

Her daughter was flying at twice the speed she was, almost breaking the sound barrier at least twice. Kara knew something was eating at her daughter, but Kia wasn’t the type to open up about her problems to anyone. Even before the bombing, the younger woman had always been the type to shoulder her own issues. A side effect of growing up with a sibling who was constantly in and out of the hospital. After Rebecca died a hard wall of concrete had dropped around her and she’d never let anyone close again. 

 

In fact, the only route that had shown any success when it came to getting Kia to talk about her problems was not talking to her about her problems. To disadvantage of having a superpower daughter was the fact that she could literally fly away from any argument she entered. 

 

So the only avenue that had ever worked was simply being there for Kia, and getting her away from other people to mitigate property damage. 

 

But lately, Kara had been happy to note that Kia was actually spending time with another person again, even if her drinking hadn’t been swayed. But still, it was nice that she had someone to talk to. Until today, when apparently something had occurred to upset her. 

 

It was only once Kia finally slowed down in her stress flying to float alongside her that Kara decided to just be direct.

 

“How bad is it,” she asked.

 

Kia dropped half a metre in the sky and turned to face her mother with a dangerous shade of red growing on her face.

 

“Is what?” She asked.

 

The older woman hesitated, knowing that continuing to speak would likely result in Kia vanishing for a week.

 

She let out a sigh, as her thoughts drifted to the changes the rest of her family were making these days. The changes that she was making now. And the pattern of behaviour her daughter had to change for her own good if nothing else. 

 

“You’ve been struggling a lot lately,” Kara said, looping under a bridge. “I thought since you and Nina had gotten close that you had gotten better. But… I’m sorry I missed it. Lately, it seems like my focus is being pulled into a thousand places at once.”

 

Her daughter stayed silent but didn’t move to fly away so Kara floated closer and nudged her shoulder gently.

 

“We haven’t really had time to check in. Just the two of us.”

 

Kia didn’t reply for a few minutes, her face turning dark. She flew low until her toes were almost skimming the river and she could duck in and around the passing boats, leaving waves in her wake. The younger hero didn’t fly away though, and instead flew up and hovered over the city.

 

Kara’s eyes followed her daughter’s, zoning in on the large memorial that stood in place of where the hospital had been. 

 

The blonde didn’t speak, even when she was shocked to see that her daughter had begun to cry. She floated closer instead, her hand reaching cautiously out so she could give her daughter a hug around her shoulders. Kia didn’t pull away, though she did become rigid. 

 

After a few seconds though, her body began to shake and she spoke in a stuttered voice. 

 

“I… I’m losing control again. Everything is just becoming too loud in my head,” she whispered.

 

Kara felt a part of her crumble inside at the way her daughter sounded so broken. It brought her back to the first month after Rebecca had died when Kia had barely spoken a word before vanishing for a month after the funeral. It was only years later when Kara had be broken in half herself by the news of Lena’s affair that Kia revealed that she had spent that time as far away from people’s voices as possible because she could simply no longer stand to hear the noise. 

 

She just wanted things to be silent so she could think.

 

When Kara asked why she had come back, Kia told her it was because the more time she spent away, the more time she thought about how she would never hear Rebecca’s voice again.

 

Kara pulled her daughter as close as she could. 

 

“You weren’t born to be alone, Kia,” she whispered out.

 

The younger woman let out a bitter laugh.

 

“And yet…” She said.

 

Kara shook her head. 

 

“That’s a choice you make,” she said.

 

Kia pulled away at that and floated further upwards and into the sky.

 

“Can we not have this discussion again?” She said with a sigh as Kara followed behind her.

 

The older woman watched her daughter closely, taking in as Kia’s face relaxed as the clouds opened up and the sun bathed her face. Not for the first time that day, Kara was struck with a feeling of nostalgia, seeing a younger version of herself in her daughter. 

 

Something Kara regretted deeply in her life was that both her son and daughter had been brushed with tragedy the same way both Lena and she had. But despite everything that had happened to all of them, they were all still here and fighting in their own way. They had always been there for each other before.

 

That was what they needed to be for each other again. 

 

“Ok. I won’t push,” Kara said with a small smile. “But, I’m here for you Kia. Just like I’ll always be.”

 

The younger woman drifted quietly for a minute, before turning onto her back so she could look up to the sky.

 

“Even if I wanted it,” she said in a tight voice. “I don’t think I could ever get a fresh start.”

 

Kara shifted so that she was staring upwards at the sky with her daughter.

 

“I just want you to be happy, Kia,” she replied. "You deserve it more than most people. And you’ve certainly earned it more than most people.”

 

Kia closed her eyes for a minute, before twisting in the sky.

 

“I… I just want to fly,” she said with a tight smile.

 

The older hero sighed but nodded.

 

“Ok”

 

Kia gave her mother a small smile, before doing a quick loopdiloop in the sky, before she pulled up in front of her mother with a larger grin on her face.

 

“Hey… you wanna race?” She asked.

 

Kara raised her eyebrows and made a show of checking the time on her watch.

 

“First one back to the Himalayas and back?” Kia asked again. “You haven’t won that race in years.”

Kara snorted.

 

“Only because I let you win.”

 

The younger woman laughed.

 

“Or, because you’re getting old,” she teased.

 

The older blonde narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

  
“Who are you calling old? You’re in your thirty’s now, my dear. Pretty soon you’ll have aching knees.”

 

Kia pretended to stretch.

 

“It’s biologically impossible for me to have aching knees,” she said in a haughty voice.

 

Kara sniffed.

 

“All the same,” she said casually, before launching off towards the horizon, leaving a sonic boom in her wake.

 

“That’s cheating!” 

 

* * *

 

“Bait? That’s what we’ve come to?” Kara asked incredulously.

 

Alex and Liam exchanged looks and the young man shrugged.

 

“We don’t have much else to go on,” Alex replied. “We know these fanatical idiots have made contact with him in public places before. Maybe they’ll do it again. We can do this, along with searching for more Cadmus bases. And trying to understand exactly how their tech works. But none of that means squat unless we understand their motives. If we’re still operating under the idea that these people are… rejects… then we are dealing with two separate branches. It also means that ‘Cadmus’ hasn’t directly made contact with Liam.”

 

Winn popped up at that.

 

“Unless they were the one who shot the woman in the zoo.”

 

Kia frowned at the older man.

 

“Why would they do that?” She asked.

 

Winn replied with a shrug.

 

“Think about it? What other reason would there be? That woman wanted me for something. I don’t know if she wanted to tell me something or take me somewhere… But she wanted something.”

 

Nina spoke with a questioning frown.

 

“Why would Cadmus want to kill her though?”

 

“Because they didn’t want her to tell me?” Liam replied.

 

Kia gave him a cool look.

 

“Or they need you for something else,” she said.

 

A silence settled in the room as the unknown implications of that settled in their minds.

 

Alex spoke after a minute.

 

“This silent approach… It feels like we’ve entered a cold war with Cadmus.”

 

“Clandestine operation vs clandestine operation,” Nina stated.

 

Winn spoke next.

 

“I think we need to remember the main purpose of Cadmus here. The original purpose. Experimentation on aliens, to augment the human race. To make us stronger, better.”

 

Nina nodded.

 

“Like Liam, and the others.”

 

“But, on that theory, why were they rejected?” Kia asked. “They clearly had the same regeneration powers.”

 

Nina let out a dry laugh.

 

“Well, at least we know when your head is blown clean off there is no regeneration!”

 

Liam smiled at that.

 

“Yes, well to be fair I haven’t specifically tested that. But, what if it was… half-baked. Like her regeneration powers just weren’t as strong as mine. Think about it. We were all experiments, what if these are the rejects.”

 

There was another pause between them all, while Alex frowned thoughtfully.

 

“Well, that’s a thought,” she said.

 

Kara shook her head.

 

“This is all just wild speculation,” she said in a dismayed voice.

 

“Nearly every operation we’ve ever run here has been based off wold speculation though,” Alex spoke. “Most of the time we have to pull ourselves asses out of the fire when we’re already halfway into the lava.”

 

There was another long silence again before Winn let out a groan and rubbed his head. 

 

“See, this is why I retired.”

 

Nina laughed at the older man.

 

“Quit complaining, Uncle Winn,” she said with a smile. “All you were doing all day was playing scrabble and rewatching Star Wars.”

 

Winn rolled his eyes at that.

 

“You have a very skewed view of my retirement.”

 

Kia eyed her bother carefully before speaking slowly. 

 

“They’re not going to be dumb enough to go for it,” she said.

 

The woman’s eyes were measuring him carefully, an unknown emotion flickering within them. 

 

Liam took a step forward and spoke in a soft voice.

 

“What other choice do we have? What other choice do they have?” He asked to the room at large.

 

Alex let out a breath, before stepping forward and pointing her finger into Liam’s chest. 

 

“Ok. But this time you follow orders to the letter. And I mean to the fucking letter.”

 

Liam grinned at that and gave his aunt a mock salute.

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

She hit him over the head.

 

“Don’t be a shit.”

 

* * *

 

_“What do think about clouds?”_

 

_Lena looked up from her papers, blinking as she peered over her reading glasses at the other woman. Kara stared up at her wife, her head resting on the other woman’s leg as she played with the edge of the sheet covering the both of them._

 

_“Masses of water suspended in the atmosphere,” Lena answered distractedly, before looking back to the paperwork that she had scattered over the bedsheets._

 

_Kara rolled her eyes at her wife’s behaviour, before gently tapping the brunette’s leg for attention._

 

_“No, I meant for the baby’s room,” she said._

 

_Lena turned back to look at her with a confused frown._

 

_“Why would we want masses of water in the baby’s room?” She asked, completely perplexed at the blonde’s words._

 

_Kara shook her head in bemusement at her wife, before speaking in a slow voice._

 

_“Paintings of clouds, Lena. On the walls of the baby’s room,” she said dryly._

 

_The CEO blinked in confusion before understanding dawned and she turned back to her paperwork._

 

_“Oh! Oh, Ummm yeah. Sure,” she answered, flipping to her next page and signing something at the bottom quickly._

 

_The blonde let out a sigh and shifted her head so that her wife was forced to look down at her._

 

_“Lena, are you even listening to what I’m talking about?” She asked._

 

_The brunette let out a breath, before taking off her glasses and lowering her pen._

 

_“I’m sorry, Kara. I’m just trying to finish this piece of work,” she said, giving the blonde a regretful look._

 

_The hero stared up at her wife with disbelief in her eyes._

 

_“You’ve been finishing it for two hours,” she replied in a dry voice._

 

_Lena grimaced, but her fingers itched towards picking up her pen again._

 

_“Well, I got to a bit of a roadblock but if I just have five more-“_

 

_The blonde interrupted her quickly, moving in a smooth motion so she was sitting beside the CEO and could rest her hand on Lena’s stomach gently._

 

_“Lena, you’re working too hard,” Kara said, giving her wife a meaningful look._

 

_The brunette laid her own hand on top of the blondes gently._

 

_“You keep saying that,” she replied. “But it isn’t true.”_

 

_The blue-eyed woman rubbed a small circle over what she assumed was her daughter’s protruding foot. It was a daunting surprise when she realised that she couldn’t use her X-ray vision to see the baby. Instead of a curled up baby, all she could see was a blank space. All the tests that had been able to run on Lena had indicated that the human woman’s body was changing to adapt for the half-Kryptonian baby inside of her. But the effort to do so was making Lena sick. It was only when the CEO had her third fainting spell at work that she had finally agreed to a regiment of socially designed drugs made by the DEO to keep her body working._

 

_Still, it was enough to terrify Kara._

 

_“Lena, we already know from the scans that the baby is Kryptonian for sure-“ The blonde tried to say before she was interrupted by her wife’s groan._

 

_“Please, not this again.”_

 

_The hero ignored her and pressed on._

 

_“We had to use a Kryptonite needle to penetrate the amniotic sack just to check!” Kara protested._

 

_“And it was only one scan because the Kryptonite made you throw up. I think we can safely assume that the baby takes after me.”_

 

_Lena looked at her wife tired eyes._

 

_“Your point is?”_

 

_The hero leant in closely, giving the CEO an earnest look._

 

_“That the baby is going to be as strong as me. Which means that if they kick, they won’t just kick. You could be serious-“_

 

_Lena pressed her forehead against her wife’s, cutting off her words._

 

_“Kara, I’m fine,” she said quietly. “Besides, if the baby kicked it wouldn’t matter if I’m at work or if I’m home and letting you obsess over me.”_

 

_The blonde closed her eyes, the ball of constant tension in her chest not easing in the slightest._

 

_“Stress isn’t good for you, Lena,” she whispered._

 

_The brunette turned her face so she could capture Kara’s lips with her own for a long and gentle kiss. After a minute, she broke it and blinked up at the other woman with a reassuring smile._

 

_“Kara. It’s going to be fine,” she said._

 

_The blonde didn’t reply, but her mouth twisted downwards and her eyes were still filled with worry. Lena let out another sigh before she gathered up her papers and put them on the bedside table and turned back to look at her wife._

 

_“I was thinking about stars anyway,” she said, propping herself up on her pillow. “For the nursery. Maybe the constellations you could see from Krypton.”_

 

_Kara blinked, her mind suddenly filled with images from long nights spent on Krypton, staring up at the sky with her father and plotting them on charts. The image of the same stars staring down at their baby and comforting her the same way they comforted the blonde as a child._

 

_“That’s….” She said, trailing off before she smiled. “I like that.”_

 

_Lena smiled in reply and pressed another kiss against Kara’s lips._

 

_“Hey… I love you,” she said._

 

_The blonde’s eyes softened further._

 

_“I love you too,” she whispered back._

 

* * *

 

“Your mother won’t like this,” Kara said, watching as her son took apart his gun and inspected the pieces carefully.

 

The dark-haired man shrugged.

 

“Probably not, but this is the only thing we can do apart from sitting on our butts.”

 

The blonde woman let out a breath before moving forward to pick up one of the strange modified bullets he had laid out.  


“It’s not always good to be a person of action, Liam,” she replied, playing with the metal between her fingers. "Sometimes caution is needed. Treading lightly.”

 

Liam stopped his actions and raised an eyebrow at his mother.

 

“You’ve never treaded lightly,” he said dryly.

 

She smiled at that.

 

“Maybe not when I was your age. I was all flying and punching and grand speeches. Subtlety was something I had to learn from your mother.”

 

Kara placed the bullet down on the table carefully, watching as her son began to clean a part of his gun with a strange instrument. Nina and Gary stood on the far side of the room, speaking to each other in soft voices about something. It was only after a few seconds that Liam spoke again. 

 

“So you’re going to therapy now?”

 

The blonde blinked at that.

 

“How did you-“

 

He cut her off quickly.

 

“Mom told me.”

 

Kara watched him carefully, a crease forming between her eyebrows/

 

“Can you… just don’t go announcing it to people, please. Everyone is too involved emotionally in each other as it is right now. I just want to test the waters myself first before I invite more people into the pool.”

 

He slotted two pieces together with a click before smiling at her.

 

“Worried you’ll upset Auntie Alex?” He teased.

 

The blonde’s thoughts fluttered to her sister and the tentative steps they had made today to getting along once more.

 

“I don’t want to start unnecessary arguments,” she finally said.

 

Liam paused in his cleaning and placed the pieces in his hands down on the table gently, before giving her an uncertain look.

 

“You know, it’s just because she’s worried about you,” he said, leaning against the table with his arms folded across his chest.

 

Kara smiled, a flicker of happiness growing in her chest at hearing her son speak about her sister in a positive tone. 

 

“Yeah, I know,” she said with a smile. “She’s been worried about me ever since I landed here.”

 

The man’s smile grew slightly bitter and he began to work on his gun once more.

 

“I suppose that’s just what siblings do,” he muttered out.

 

Kara knawed on the bottom of her lip for a few seconds, before speaking in a casual tone.

 

“So I heard you and Kia had an argument.”

 

Her son looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Nina told you I gather? So much for keeping noses out of other people’s business,” he said sarcastically.

 

There was a pause between them, filled with the sounds of scrubbing until Liam let out a sigh and spoke in a soft voice.

 

“Is she ok?” He asked,

 

Kara smiled at his concern but shrugged in response.

 

“I don’t know. Your sister’s never really… recovered after Rebecca died.”

 

The man let out a sigh and wiped the back of his head leaving a grease stain behind.

 

“Yeah… it’s pretty obvious to see,” he said. “I’m just… ugh, I don’t want it to be this way anymore. And Kia is….” He said, trailing off.

 

Kara gave her son a soft look.

 

“Sibling relationships are complicated, Liam,” she replied.

 

He let out a groan before giving her an annoyed look.

 

“Do you think it would help if I apologised?”

 

Kara looked at her son, surprised at his question. 

 

“It couldn’t hurt,” she replied.

 

The man nodded and before his eyes flickered towards Nina in the corner of the room and his face became unreadable.

 

“She’s a good person. It’s obvious to see,” he muttered before continuing on with his work.

 

Kara’s eyes flickered in-between her son and her goddaughter.

 

“Who? Nina?” She questioned.

 

He frowned down at his gun, before muttering his reply.

 

“Yes… and Kia. Kia’s a good person. Probably a hell of a lot better than me, but don’t tell her I said that.”

 

Kara laughed at her son’s words.

 

“Don’t want her to know that you feel something other than ambivalence towards her?” She said with a laugh.

 

He gave her a half smile.

 

“Yeah.”

 

She watched him put together the final pieces of his gun and it was only once the whole thing was slotted together that Kara spoke once more in a curious voice.

 

“So what’s brought on this introspection?” She asked.

 

Liam frowned down at the table, before turning to his mother.

 

“I was just thinking, about these suspected rejects. How twisted they are. Physically and emotionally. Is that the path I was headed down? Is that the path I was already on? Still am? I just… the way I’ve been since…. Am I infected with this stuff? I don’t want to be. Not anymore. It takes up too much energy to hate everyone all the time. But it’s hard to change the way I am too. I’ve been who I am for so long, it’s hard to twist the parts of myself that I want to keep away from the parts of myself that I don’t. How do I even… I just feel things I didn’t before. Do you know what it’s like, to build up so much of who you are based on a foundation of rage? Anger and regret? I don’t… I don’t know who I am anymore,” he finished with a whisper.

 

Kara stepped forward when she saw that tears had begun to form in the corners of her son’s eyes. She rested a gentle hand against his shoulder, drawing his attention from the floor and back to her.

 

“I’ve lost everything before, Liam,” she said. "My whole world in fact. I had nothing left. Yes, Clark was here and he was my cousin. But once I arrived… he didn’t really mean anything to me. All I saw was a stranger and I think all he saw was a burden. But I was alone, and I was scared and in a strange world with strange people. I had to start everything all over again. I had to create my own family. I’m not saying this, to make you feel guilty. My life is my own, just as yours is your own. And I certainly have my share of regrets. But you can’t let them define you forever, Liam. You’ve spent so long wearing yours around your neck, that you’ve used them as walls. They are your armour so that anyone else who accuses you of them doesn’t have true power over you. But to truly be happy, son, you have to face your regrets head on. In the end, it doesn’t matter what I think or your mother or anyone else. You’re the one who has to look at themselves in the mirror every day. And you’re the one who has to decide if you like the man you see.”

 

Liam looked at her, his eyes shining with unshed tears and Kara was brought back to a time when he was just a toddler, asking her for a hug because he had hurt his knee.

 

“What if I never like the man that I am?” He asked in a broken voice.

 

Her smile widened and she pulled him in for a tight hug.

 

“Then you spend your life trying,” she whispered in his ear. “And I’ll be here for you. And so will your family. They may be… everyone is going through their own struggles, Liam. Bear that in mind. But when the shit hits the fan, we’re all going to be here for each other.”

 

He pulled back and stared down at her uncertainly.

 

“How can you be so sure?” He asked.

 

Kara’s smile widened.

 

“Because I trust them and I believe in them. I want to be there for them and I want to protect them. Because no matter how mad I get at your mother, your sister, you, my sister, Maggie, Nina…. everyone. I love you all and I believe in you all. It took me a while to wrap my own head around it, and sometimes it’s easy to fall back into old habits but… I don’t want to be the type of person who doesn’t have faith in my family.”

 

Liam nodded at that.

 

“I guess that’s why you and Mom are going to…. I don’t even know what you’re trying to do, to be honest,” he said with a head shake.

 

She frowned at him uncertainly.

 

“You know, I think you are probably the only person’s opinion I don’t know about your mother and my… relationship.”

 

“What about Kia?” Liam asked.

 

Kara’s eyes drifted towards the DEO’s balcony.

 

“Your sister hasn’t said it… but I know what she wants.”

 

“What’s that?” Liam asked.

 

Kara sighed, before speaking once again.

 

“When your mother and I split up, it hit your sister hard. She was already on shaky grounds with Lena before that and then… well. She didn’t take it easy. I think now she wants to have a relationship with your mother again but… she’d be happy if we were happy with other people.”

 

Kara’s sombre mood was broken by Liam’s ball of laughter and the blonde looked at him in surprise.

 

“Well, that’s just never going to happen is it?” He said with a grin.

 

She frowned at him in question.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Liam gave her a no-nonsense look.

 

“I don’t know the full story… But it seems to me that neither one of you has moved on after all these years. You could chalk up Mom’s hesitance to self-loathing. Believing that she isn’t worthy of love ever again… But I know that’s only part of it. She can’t move on because no one else will ever measure up to you. And as much as she want’s to keep you at a distance, claiming because she wants to look after your self-interests, I’ve seen the way she watches you. And you, I mean come on. You’re own feelings towards her probably need some serious therapy to untangle but…”

 

“She cheated on me, Liam,” Kara said bluntly. “It was horrible. Our relationship was already on the rocks before that but… it wasn’t just the final nail in the coffin. It lit the coffin on fire.”

 

Liam shrugged and grinned at her.

 

“Some would say that a phoenix could rise from the ashes?” He said in an uplifting voice.

 

Kara gave him a look, before blurting out her next question.

 

“Do you want your mother and me to be together, Liam?”

 

He shook his head.

 

“It shouldn’t matter what I want.”

 

Kara pressed forward.

 

“But what do you want.”

 

Liam gave her a careful, appraising look. 

 

“I just want Mom to be happy,” he finally said. “And I want that for you too. If after all this… therapy… you realise that you need to finally let go, then I’ll back that. If that makes you happy. But in my twisted and probably toxic experience, relationships are rarely as easy as a stereotype. It’s pretty easy for people to look to give their opinion on how a relationship should be. Especially if someone gets cheated on. But, in the end, the only two people who really know what they want out of a relationship are the people in one. If you want her and she wants, you both trust each other and make each other happy…. well… who gives a damn what anyone else thinks.”

 

This time it was Kara’s eyes that began to well with tears, and Liam wrapped an arm around her shoulder’s comfortingly.

 

“But, I guess I could be that cliched kid who dreams for their parents getting back together if you want me to be. In that case, I can parent trap the shit out of this.”

 

The blonde laughed suddenly at his words.

 

“That won’t be necessary but… thank you for being so supportive.”

 

He let her go at that and moved back around the table.

 

“You know, I’m not always an asshole,” he said with a smile.

 

They were both interrupted by Gary walking over and slamming a hand on Liam’s back. 

 

“Yes, you are!” He exclaimed. "Except for maybe that one time we helped those Yellow Martians out.”

 

Nina, who had followed them, looked at Liam with a smile.

 

“There are Yellow Martians?” She asked.

 

Kara shook her head at that.

 

“They’re a legend. There is no proof of their existence,” she said.

 

Liam smiled and shrugged.

 

“Maybe not in this universe,” he said slyly.

 

There was a pause, while Nina and Kara blinked at him in shock. 

 

“Wait, you’ve crossed the multiverse?” The younger woman asked in shock.

 

Liam shook his head.

 

“Not me specifically, there were a bunch of time pirates who created a temporal tear. They figured it would be easier to get a pool of slaves from other multiverses. That way, there was less heat on them in this one. The only problem was that the more holes they made the weaker the weaker the fabric between the multiverse was becoming.”

 

Kara frowned.

 

“But people have been breaching through the multiverse for years,” she said.

 

Gary spoke this time, making large gestures that nearly knocked Nina and Liam over.

 

“This wasn’t a breach though!” He said excitedly. “Not in the traditional sense. Think more like a giant cannon that literally ripped a hole in space, and ever time it never really closed completely.”

 

Nina’s mouth gaped at the thought.

 

“That’s…. what happened?” She asked.

 

Gary smiled at her and slapped his hand down on a wincing Liam’s shoulder once more.

 

“Well, Liam had been hired as part of a team to find the head honcho pirate,” he began, launching into his story. 

 

"Dalax. He was an ugly bastard too. Basically, he’d been slaving a too much in the local clusters and had a bounty on his head the size of a planet. Anyway, they were heavily fortified but we had no idea what we were heading into. Vran, Liam and me made our way onto the station and that’s when we stumbled on this group of Yellow Martians. Long story short, we managed to kill Dalax and his pirates, but the gap between the verses was becoming unstable fast. We ended up setting off a nuke in the middle of it, effectively closing it with the temporal damage. But we still had these Martians to deal with. Could have sold them for a mint if we wanted to, but Liam insisted that we find a way to send them home. Cut to nearly three months later, in between some annoyingly polite and morally uptight Martians mixed with plenty of arguments and one bar fight that ended up destroying a ship, we finally found a breacher who sent them home.”

 

Gary smiled at his friend, while Kara and Nina watched him with awe.

 

“Ah, the stories we have to tell,” Gary sighed out nostalgically.

 

“That’s….” Nina said, trailing off incredulously while shaking her head.

 

Liam smiled at her.

 

“Well, what did you think I was doing for ten years?” He asked his mother and Nina both.

 

Kara let out a laugh.

 

“I… not bloody ripping holes in the multiverse!” She cried out.

 

Liam laughed again.

 

“I wasn’t the one ripping holes! I closed the hole! And rescued a bunch of handsy martian’s to boot.”

 

The blonde woman just smiled at him.

 

“I have nothing to say to that,” she said.

 

“Well, you’re not as boring as I thought,” Nina said with a grin.

 

Liam flushed.

 

“Yeah, well… I wasn’t all bad,” he said with a mutter.

 

Nina’s eyes softened as she watched him.

 

“You’ve got a bit more substance to you than I thought maybe,” she replied.

 

Liam looked up from his table.

 

“You’re not to bad yourself,” he answered.

 

There was a few seconds pause before Kara coughed to break it.

 

“Ok, while this is all fascinating… maybe we could get on with what we’re actually here to do?” She asked.

 

Nina blinked and shuffled backwards.

 

“Fair enough,” she said before she and Kara exited the room together.

 

After they had moved, Liam turned to look at Gary with a frown.

 

“What are you doing?” He demanded.

 

The martian gave him a perplexed look.

 

“What? I’m just telling stories.”

 

The bearded man snorted.

 

“No, you’re stirring stuff.”

 

The martian placed his hand, this time softly, on his friend’s shoulder.

 

“Liam, I’m your friend. I’ve been here for long enough to know that these people don’t know shit about who you are.”

 

Liam let out a sigh.

 

“Just because I’m not sitting around reminiscing on the past-“

 

Gary cut him off with a no-nonsense look.

 

“What? You afraid if they learn more about the last near decade of your life they might actually begin to see you with fresh eyes?”

 

Liam frowned down at the ground.

 

“I’m not fishing for compliments,” he muttered out. “Besides, I wasn’t exactly an angel either.”

 

“But you weren’t an evil bastard,” the martian replied.

 

Liam let out a breath, before shifting out of the other man’s grip.

 

“Gary… just let me deal with my family my own way.”

 

The alien eyed his friend up.

 

“Right…. cause you’ve been doing a bang-up job so far,” he said dryly.

 

Liam shook his head, his mouth twisting.

 

“Let’s just get down to business.”

 

* * *

 

_Liam checked the scope of his gun, wincing as he realised it was definitely cracked. He dropped it on his welding table and rummaged around to see if he had a part he could replace it with. After a few frustrating minutes, he let out a groan and shoved his toolbox back in frustration._

 

_At the loud bang that followed, Liam heard a faint and scared squeak behind him and he turned to see the clustered group of Yellow Martian’s he had advocated to stay on the ship, staring up at him with slight fear and confusion. The youngest one was staring up at him with awe and pain in her eyes. Liam internally kicked himself for scaring the vulnerable and probably tortured lot, so he sat down easily and rested his back against the bulkhead, allowing the thrumming of the engines to relax him._

 

_“Hey,” he asked with a gentle smile, staring at the young child. “What’s your name?”_

 

_The little one didn’t even blink before she responded._

 

_“Zara,” she answered in a quiet voice._

 

_The green-eyed man continued to smile, even as the slightly ethereally voice rolled over him._

 

_“That’s a pretty name. Mine’s Liam,” he replied._

 

_The little girl stared at him intensely for a minute, making him feel like her eyes were piercing his soul._

 

_“Yes…. Liam Luthor,” she answered._

 

_The man’s heart stopped for a minute. He hadn’t heard his name spoken in full in a long time and there was no way that this little girl could know what it was._

 

_“How did you…. ah,” he replied, the realisation clicking in his mind._

 

_“You can read my mind?” He questioned, before frowning.”You must be pretty special. None of the other telepaths I’ve encountered has been able to.”_

 

_The woman who was sitting next to the little girl pulled her close briefly before her eyes turned to Liam and she winced in pain before turning away. Now that Liam noticed it, he realised that apart from the little girl, the rest of the group had spent their time looking at him quickly before returning away with looks of pain._

_  
“Yellow Martians are special, Luthor,” the woman said with a haunted voice. “We are more… empathetic than our Green or White counterparts.”_

 

_Liam tilted his head._

 

_“You have Green and White martian’s in your universe?” He questioned._

 

_The woman nodded, her eyes firmly rested on the ceiling._

 

_“Yes, but they died out long ago,” she whispered._

 

_Liam frowned again, his mind turning on the possibilities of visiting an alternate universe. To see all the things and people that weren’t in this one. In many ways, he regretted not seizing the opportunity to jump through the tear when he had the chance, but if he had her might never have found a way back._

 

_“Well, that’s interesting,” he replied._

 

_The woman turned her eyes to look at Liam, wincing in pain but retaining contact._

 

_“You are not that easy to read, though,” she said with a frown. “Your other companions, apart from the white, were simple. The pirates too. But you… We have encountered our universe’s version of humans before. They were easy.”_

 

_The woman’s eyes began to water and she turned away from him once again._

 

_“You must be remarkably strong willed to have guarded your mind so much,” she uttered in a flat voice._

 

_Liam’s brow creased at the words._

 

_“Well, I guess I should be flattered,” he answered._

 

_His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the little girl began to speak to him in a soothing voice._

 

_“The anger…” she whispered. “You are filled with so much anger. And pain. It leaks out of you. But there is more.”_

 

_Liam leaned closer, even as the woman rested her hand on the girl’s arm._

 

_“Zara-“ She tried to say, but Liam interrupted her with a wave._

 

_“It’s ok,” he replied, his eyes riveted on the girls._

 

_The woman winced, before replying._

 

_“I’m sorry. Zara is… more sensitive than most. She has unique empathetic abilities, even among our own people. Some people find her to be… disconcerting.”_

 

_The entire time she spoke, Zara didn’t turn away from him._

 

_“It’s ok,” Liam answered with a wistful grin. “I understand what it’s like to be a bit… different.”_

 

_They were interrupted again by the girl, who spoke with a faraway voice as if she wasn’t really here._

 

_“Despair. Heartbreak….. Regret. So much regret. But it feels… far away. As if you have locked it inside of you. Deep down. It almost feels as if it is no longer your own. And there is something else. Something I can’t…. It’s like caged fire. Untapped, but once released it could burn all in its wake.”_

 

_Liam felt the words attacking him, piercing into his well-built walls that hadn’t been touched for many years. It wasn’t easy for someone to surprise him the days, but Zara’s words threw him. The girl’s eyes shuddered closed, and a shiver ran through her body before she half collapsed into the woman’s arms. Liam started forward at the action, but the woman held her hand up to stop him moving forward._

 

_“I’m sorry,” she said, resting her hand against Zara’s head. “It’s becoming too much for her. She can’t shield herself from other’s thoughts the same way the rest of us can.”_

 

_Liam frowned in concern._

 

_“Is she going to be alright?” He asked._

 

_The woman smiled at him and as one, the group looked at him, this time the pain gone from their eyes._

 

_“She will be,” she said, the new warmth in her voice surprising the young man._

 

_A darker yellow skinned martian suddenly spoke up from the back of the group in a deep voice._

 

_“Thank you again, Luthor. For what you did… we can never repay you,” he uttered, and the group nodded in unison._

 

_The bearded man scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably at the words._

 

_“I didn’t…. I just took you along. We were leaving the station anyway,” he muttered, before standing to his feet and turning his back on the group._

 

_There were a few seconds of silence before Liam nearly jumped out of his skin at a light touch on his lower back. He turned to see the woman who had spoken to him staring up at him with a smile._

 

_“You risked your lives for us, Luthor. It is not something we will ever forget. Your name and deeds will live on in the memories of our people forever.”_

 

_The dark haired man blinked at that, the sincerity in her voice leaving no doubt that she meant them with all her heart. Liam felt his chest concave at that, but for once he allowed the words to reach him properly._

 

_“I…. Thank you,” he stuttered out, gratefulness unfamiliar to him._

 

_“And please, don’t call me Luthor. Liam is fine,” he said finally and with a smile, before moving to walk away and head up to the bridge of the ship._

 

_He was stopped again when the other woman placed a gentle hand on his elbow._

 

_“Liam? If I may…. a final gift of words?” She asked._

 

_The man hesitated but nodded his acceptance._

 

_“Sure.”_

 

_The woman stared at him hard, before she began to sleep and her words took on the same ethereal quality of the young girl._

 

_“Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things any person can ever do. You can’t change what has passed, as much as you may wish things were different they will always remain the same. But the steps you have taken in your life, however tragic, will eventually lead you to a choice. The day it comes you will have to decide within yourself about which person you want to be. Is it going to be a man who hates those around him and himself for the sins of his past? Or will it be a man who embraces the love others have to offer and allows himself to be strong? Stong enough to forgive himself.”_

 

_The words had the same effect as the ones before had, except this time it didn’t tap into the well of anger and bottled pain inside of him, but instead the swell of regret that had been even harder to hide._

 

_“Why would you think I hate myself?” He asked with a frown._

 

_The woman gave him a knowing look, that eerily reminded him of his mother’s._

 

_“Only someone so desperate to be someone they’re not would lash out at the world around you the way you do. Let go of your anger, resentment and pain. Forgive the people you think have hurt you, and in time they will forgive you. Only then, will you find peace.”_

 

_Before he could reply, the young girl on the floor peeped up again._

 

_“You have greater power than you know, Liam. Find it within yourself and embrace it, only then can you defeat the wolf of hate that you feed.”_

 

_Liam frowned down at the girl for a minute._

 

_There was a heavy cough behind him, and suddenly the fear refilled the Martians eyes and huddled back together quickly. Liam turned to see his white martian friend towering over him, giving him a questioning look.  
_

 

_“What did that mean?” He asked the alien. “I’m not good at translating enigmatic pieces of advice.”_

 

_Gurtag grunted and shrugged._

 

_“Why are you looking at me? In case you hadn’t realised, my type of martian is more likely to shoot you in the face than offer comforting words.”_

 

_Liam frowned, before glancing back at the huddled group, the little girl once again staring at him intensely.  
_

 

_“Words have power,” he breathed out._

 

_Gurtag grunted._

 

_“Only if you let them.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did we think?


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *a zombie hand, clawing their way out of the pit of despair they've been in for the past few months makes way for a gaunted and harrowed face*
> 
> heyyyyyy peeople....
> 
> So, I've been AWOL from this fic for a long, long, long, long, long time. I've had a hell of a time. Injury, illness, spontaneous travel, injury, work ect ect ect... Plus I've got two other fics now, so everything is been churned out in the same blender I call my melon head.
> 
> BUT I am back, and here is a chapter. It's actually been quite challenging getting back in the right headspace for this fic, but I am there now. Already have half of the next chapter written so that's positive. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy :)

_The venue was beautiful and everything had been planned within an inch of its life. Everything from the flowers (Plumeria’s) to the napkins (Swan folded) had been meticulously thought out, budgeted and executed. The majority of people assumed that Lena had been the one with her hands on the reigns, but in reality, she had done very little._

 

_The brunette would have been just as happy to go down to the courthouse the day she had proposed to marry Kara then and there. Honestly, she didn’t have many people in her life who she cared to see it apart from those that were directly linked to her blonde fiancée. And as much as she enjoyed the fancier things in life, she hadn’t really wanted the wedding to be a spectacle._

 

_But it was what Kara wanted, even if she never would have pushed. During the first few months of dating, the CEO had been continuously surprised by the hero’s obsession with wedding TV shows especially considering that Kryptonian weddings were less about romance than the joining of old families and key genetic code. The journalist’s romantic heart never ceased to surprise her, so it was definitely worth the fourteen venues Kara had taken her to on their backups list._

 

_Even though Lena had found it hilarious that the blonde had been arguing on the phone with the caterer in the midst of fighting aliens._

 

_There had been some discussion on how to blend traditional style with modern had gone, especially with the Kryptonian twist they both wanted to add. It had hit Lena harder than expected when they were writing out invitations, something Kara insisted they both do even though Lena was richer than sin._

 

_The fact that she wouldn’t have a single family member in attendance._

 

_When she was a little girl, she did have a brief fantasy of Lex walking her down the aisle. Even when Lionel had been alive… it was always Lex. Then when everything went to shit, Lena couldn’t even see herself getting married so it became a non-issue._

 

_But now…_

 

_Kara had asked if she wanted to walk together down the aisle, but in the end, Lena had made the decision that she would stand on her own waiting for her beautiful bride to come to her._

 

_“I’ve waited my whole life to see you walk towards me, darling…”_

 

_Kara had called her a romantic hypocrite._

 

_Nothing she could have imagined would have prepared her for the sight of the Kryptonian walking down that aisle towards her. With the brightest smile and most stunning eyes, Kara looked like sunlight radiated out of her and touched everyone in the vicinity lifting them up to higher heights. She was the type of bride that in her brilliance didn’t stand above everyone else, but honoured them._

 

_Lena couldn’t remember too much about the ceremony itself, too enamoured in the blonde’s appearance until it came time for their vows._

 

_In true Kara fashion, the blonde had spent the past several months handwriting and rewriting her vows so much that Lena felt like investing in a pen company. As of last week, Lena knew for a fact that the running length was fourteen pages in minuscule handwriting._

 

_It was a surprise when in the end Kara had just taken her hand gently and given her a gentle smile._

 

_“Lena, we’re not what anyone would call a traditional couple.”_

 

_A ripple of laughter had followed through the crowd._

 

_“But I think don’t either of us were ever destined for traditional.”_

 

_The blonde took a deep breath before continuing._

 

_“It’s been hard for me to try and summarise everything that I feel for you into just a few words… though I’ve definitely gone through my fair share of paper trying. In the end though, even though words are my livelihood it is only through my actions that hold true. So instead of trying to say all the reasons, I love you, which would take me a lifetime.”_

 

_“I’m just going to spend a lifetime showing you.”_

 

_Later, Lena wouldn’t even try to deny that she had cried._

 

* * *

 

“Lena?”

 

The brunette snapped from her thoughts from the memory she was getting lost in, to look at the impeccably dressed dark-haired man across from her, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. 

 

Damian Wayne was almost the spitting image of his father, though he didn’t have the same charm. Where Bruce ran the company well into his sixties with a playboy reputation, Damian radiated a quieter confidence. He made all the right appearances at all the places he was required, but that was where his public appearances ended. 

 

He also had a notoriously short attention span for people he deemed boring, so left the majority of his meetings with other CEO’s in the hands of his underlings. It would be insulting if his tenure ship as the head of Wayne Enterprises hadn’t let to record-breaking profits.

 

Still, whenever it came to business with L-Corp Damian always came to speak to Lena in person. 

 

The brunette had a certain fondness for the boy, even though he was entering his forties now, and usually fond their meeting’s extremely enjoyable. But today she was unusually distracted.

 

“I’m sorry, Damian. What were you saying?”

 

The other man frowned briefly.

 

“We were talking about a joint inventorship for a trip to Mars,” he drawled.

 

Lena nodded distractedly before the words properly registered and she looked at the younger man with an alarmed expression.

 

“We were?” She asked.

 

The man arched an eyebrow, his dark eyes becoming piecing.

 

“No, of course not,” he responded with a wave of his hand. “But you’ve been distracted all morning, I figured I could ask for anything and you’d agree with it Lena.” 

 

The man leaned forward in his seat.

 

“What’s going on?” He asked.

 

Lena hesitated, her mind drifting back to thoughts of plumerias and white dresses.

 

“I…. family problems,” she finally said.

 

Damian stood to his feet and shifted so he could look out over the city. Lena watched the action with a degree of amusement, finding it eerily similar to the way his father used to behave. Always needing to place himself as the figure of authority in any conversation, they both used their considerable height to their advantage to tower over everybody when they wanted to command the room. 

 

Of course, if she were to point out the similarities between him and Bruce, Damian would probably stop pretending he didn’t inherit also his father’s Dark Knight persona and pay her a threatening visit as Batman.

 

“Yes, I read that your son had returned from his travels,” Damian hummed out, his eyes not moving from the skyline. “That must be a difficult transition.”

 

Lena resisted the urge to laugh and the understatement of the century.

 

“It’s one of many transitions currently going on at the moment actually.”

 

The man turned to look down at her.

 

Though looming would be the more appropriate word.

 

“Care to elaborate?” he asked.

 

The brunette sighed, before rubbing the side of her head.

 

“It’s complicated.”

 

Damian stood stoically for a few seconds before his facade cracked with a rueful smile. He turned and walked so he could sit back down in the seat opposite her.

 

“In my experience, most things in life are,” he rumbled out with a laugh.

 

Lena nodded at the truth of his words. She knew, more than the majority of people, that Damian’s life had been far from easy. The illegitimate son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul made for an interesting man, and he’d dealt with more trauma in his first fifteen years of life than the majority of contract killers. 

 

Of course, Lena wasn’t supposed to know any of that. But if anyone could understand or empathise with the… unique… situation, it was a Wayne.

 

“You really want to know?” She asked.

 

Damian nodded.

 

“Shoot.”

 

Lena gathered her thoughts for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath.

 

“It’s my wedding anniversary today,” she answered with a frown. “Well, it was my wedding anniversary. I don’t know if you remember my ex-wife. You and your father were both at the wedding.”

 

The image of a scowling Damian Wayne stuffed into a tux had stuck in Kara’s mind most of all, and she brought it up every single anniversary when they were still married. For some reason, the blonde thought it was one of the top five moments of the day. 

 

“I remember,” he replied, with a twitch of his lip.

 

Lena resisted the urge to grin. 

 

“She was stunning that day,” the brunette continued, her eyes becoming misty. “I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything more beautiful.”

 

The brunette found her eyes dripping to the place on her desk where her wedding photo used to sit. 

 

Replaced now by an ugly paperweight.

 

“Reminiscing then?” The man’s voice interrupted.

 

The female CEO let out a breath but nodded in agreement.

 

“We’ve been estranged for a long time now,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “My fault. The divorce as well.”

 

The brunette struggled to reprise the ugly memories of that final year of marriage.

 

“At least the final straw was on me anyway.”

 

The younger man smiled at her.

 

“It sounds like you really loved her.”

 

Lena sighed allowing herself for a brief second to wonder how different her life would have been in Kara Danvers had never walked into this office to interview her. If Supergirl had never saved her. 

 

If she had just held on tighter to her own marriage, instead of setting its remains on fire.

 

“Yes,” she replied grimly. “Then I self-sabotaged as per my method operandi…. I cheated on her, then made sure she found out. I needed her to find out. I couldn’t take it anymore and she was never going to leave me. Far too honourable.” 

 

Lena’s face grew grim.

 

“But the relationship was dying, rotting from within,” she finished with a whisper.

 

The other man studied her, mulling over her words for a minute or two before he spoke again.

 

“It still bothers you,” he said softly.

 

Lena looked down at her desk.   


 

“She was the love of my life,” she answered simply.

 

Damian’s eyebrow arched.

 

“Was?” He questioned.

 

Lena nodded, then hesitated, then nodded once more. Her face contorted, unsure of how to explain everything that she was feeling.

 

“I suppose I thought for a long time that I could put it behind me, or at least to the side,” she said steadily. “But recently, with Liam returning, we’ve come back into each other’s lives and it’s hard to look at her.”

 

Lena’s mind flashed with images of the life she used to lead with her old life and she cursed her whimsical nature when it came to anniversaries.

 

“I see everything,” she continued to admit. “All the history, the first time we met, the kids… Everything. But in the end, I just see her smile and her eyes and-“

 

Damian snorted.

 

“You sound like a lovesick puppy.”

 

Lena rolled her eyes at the man, but for once she didn’t care about the teasing.

 

“I want to try and heal the wounds I made,” Lena muttered. “But I don’t think… Our relationship was like fire. It blazed bright, but it caused burns. Every decision I’ve made during my relationship with Kara had extreme consequences… for good or for ill.”

 

She fell silent afterwards, and the man just watched her carefully before responded with a lazy smile.

 

“With all due respect, Lena… you sound exceptionally broody.”

 

The brunette laughed.

 

“This coming from a Wayne?” She asked.

 

The dark-haired man nodded.

 

“That’s how you know it’s true,” he said with a wink.

 

Lena’s brows rose, surprised to discover that the boy had inherited some of his father’s charm after all.

 

“Damian, I didn’t know you had a sense of humour,” she answered.

 

The man shrugged.

 

“I bury it deep down along with my feelings.”

 

Sadly, that was something Lena could relate to all too well.

 

There was half a second of awkwardness before Damian grunted and shifted in his seat.

 

“So, what are you going to do about it?” He asked briskly.

 

Lena grimaced.

 

“I’m trying to prioritise… My son and daughter are going through a lot right now too and I’m trying to reconnect-“

 

He stopped her with a wave of his hand.

 

“Stop overthinking and stop redirecting. Answer the question,” he demanded.

 

Lena hesitated, at a loss on how to respond.

 

Damian rolled his eyes.

 

“Well, the way I see it you’ve only got a few options here. Presuming you do want to have at least a friendship with her-“

 

She nodded fiercely.

 

“I do.”

 

He shrugged.

 

“Then you’re going to have to sort your issues out.”

 

Lena let out a laugh.

 

“You make it sound so simple.”

 

Damian scowled and withdrew within himself at the words.   


 

“Oh it isn’t,” he said darkly, lost in his own world. "And it might not work, but actually trying is better than wishing you had.”

 

Lena weighed up his words, before taking a deep breath.

 

“Hmmm… so, a joint venture to Mars?” She asked.

 

The man returned from whatever plane he’d just visited and his eyes sparkled with interest.

 

“Why not?”

 

* * *

Kara was the one to close the door on the psychologist’s office and release a heavy breath. Lena and Kara walked together in silence until they reached the elevators and it was only then that the blonde spoke after a tired sigh.

 

“Well, that was productive,” she said with a huff.

 

Lena arched her eyebrow at the other woman.

 

“We didn’t end up screaming at each other, you mean,” she responded, before stepping in the elevator once it arrived.

 

“Yeah….” Kara answered before ducking in after her quickly.

 

It was their third session with Doctor Benson, National City’s leading couples therapist and psychologist, with each leaving them more exhausted than the last. The first had involved both of them being overly polite, the second them shouting at each other.

 

And this one… well, there had just been a lot of talking and rehashing of the past.

 

A few seconds past, before Kara, touched Lena’s elbow gently.

 

“Look, I know this it’s been even more awkward than ever since we started this… and I just wanted to… well. Thank you, I guess. It’s been… cathartic to release some of this stuff finally.”

 

Lena let some of the tension bleed out of her shoulders and she gave the blonde a tired smile.

 

“I’m starting to think we might have always had a problem with communication, to be honest,” she said with heavy sarcasm, delighted that the other woman laughed.

 

”But maybe we can chalk that up to the fundamental problem of you being a Super,” she finished.

 

The elevator landed on the bottom floor and the pair walked out and onto the street. Lena was surprised when Kara followed her.

 

“And you being a Luthor,” the blonde continued. “Except, I’ve been a Luthor as well for quite some time now.”

 

The brunette slowed her pace so the pair could walk side by side.

 

“The clashing of the two was always bound to cause a fire, I suppose,” she answered, waving off her driver who was parked on the corner in favour of walking with the blonde.

 

Kara laughed at her words once more.

 

“We do love our long, wistful and preachy speeches, don’t we,” she said wistfully.

 

The CEO smirked.  


 

“We live dramatic lives, it’s bound to cross over into the way we talk.”

 

The hero smiled.

 

“You used to make me only washing to dishes half the time into a moral dilemma if I recall correctly,” she said, tapping her chin in thought.

 

Lena groaned.

 

“The fact that you have super speed atomically gives you an unfair advantage when it comes to domestic tasks, Kara,” she grumbled. “I still find it unfair that we divided the chores half and half.”

 

The blonde snorted and the CEO swore she saw her hover slightly in the air.

 

“Equal division of labour, Lena.”

 

The pair smiled at each other and for a split-second, it was almost like the past ten years never happened.

 

The CEO could see the exact moment when Kara remembered.

 

Lena’s smile became sad.

 

“Do you ever think that we’re kind of just dipping our toes into the water on this stuff?”

 

Kara knew exactly what she meant, reflecting on the difficult topics being brought up in therapy and the even more difficult ones they were still avoiding.

 

“As opposed to hacking it apart with a machete?” She asked.

 

Lena shrugged.

 

“Well…yeah.”

 

The blonde hero watched her so softly, that Lena had to harden her own heart to prevent herself from melting.

 

“Do you ever just wake up in the morning and wonder, how in the hell did I get here? Where did all the time go?” Kara asked softly.

 

The world was shifting around them as people brushed past, but at that moment all Lena could see was Kara. 

 

“All the time,” the CEO answered. “I think the worst part is seeing how things are ageing around me. How I’m ageing in the mirror. And I just feel so tired now. It’s like my tolerance for the horrible things that always happen has finally been worn away to nothing.” 

 

Lena clenched her fist briefly.

 

“I don’t think… I didn’t picture my life turning out this way.”

 

The blonde watched her for half a minute before she grabbed at Lena’s hand suddenly and dragged her over to a nearby bench. 

 

“Life rarely goes the way we want it,” Kara replied with a smile. “But I don’t know how much of the bad things I would change, because that might take away the good stuff too.”

 

Lena tilted her head.

 

“You mean like Krypton.”

 

The blonde nodded.

 

“That’s a start, I guess. If Krypton had never died, I would never have been sent here and then nothing in my life would be… I wouldn’t have Alex, my friends. The children…. you.” 

 

The brunette’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“My life wouldn’t be my life, anymore.”

 

Lena frowned.

 

“Maybe it would have been better,” she muttered.

 

The blonde shook her head before replying.

 

“I know nothing in my life has been easy. I’ve seen my share of pain and death but… “ 

 

She trailed off.

 

“But you want to be selfish,” Lena finished for her.

 

Kara shook her head and smiled wryly.

 

“I am selfish. I don’t know if, given the choice, I would stop Krypton dying. Because if that happened, my family now wouldn’t exist. I don’t think…. I couldn’t give it all up. It’s hard to play games of what if in your own life.”

 

Lena thought about the last few months since Liam had returned.

 

“Yes… I seem to be doing that a lot lately myself,” she answered.

 

The hero didn’t reply or inquire further into her dark toned words and just watched her instead. A few minutes of silence passed, Lena growing slightly fidgety under the other woman’s probing stare.

 

“Do you think people can forgive someone for cheating on them?”

 

A stab of pain hit Lena right in the chest at her ex’s words.

 

“Kara-“ She tried to say, but the other woman cut her off with a hand wave.

 

“Would you have forgiven me?” She continued. “Because no matter who I talk to about this… everyone has always wanted me to react in a way that makes sense for them, but it just makes me so angry. I understand that some people don’t take forgiveness seriously. That they just use it as a reason to get off the hook and will continue to abuse your kindness. But… it’s you. And maybe I’m wrong and I never knew you at all but….”

 

She trailed off and Lena could see the tears in the blonde’s eyes. The CEO wanted to reach out, to comfort her.

 

But how could she comfort someone who was in pain because of what she had done?

 

“I was… I didn’t…. Kara-“ She struggled to say, but the hero cut her off once more.

 

“Did you really love her?”

 

Lena began to feel her walls rising up, but she fought with all her heart to stop herself from disengaging.

 

“Kara-“ She said with a sigh.

 

The blonde touched her hand, making the CEO jump slightly and lock on to her riveting blue eyes.

 

“Please…no, actually… I don’t want to know….”

 

Lena felt her resolve tighten and she caught the other woman’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

 

“Kara, please listen to me,” she said fiercely. “I can’t… I can’t turn back the clock but know this, I regret it with every fibre of my being. It wasn’t worth it, and anything I felt for her… it wasn't worth it. I didn’t just lose you… I lost my best friend and I lost myself.” 

 

The blonde watched her, mistrust dancing in her eyes.

 

"No physical or emotional gratification was worth that,” Lena finished.

 

Kara continued to watch her carefully, but a smile danced at the corner of her mouth after a few seconds.

 

“Is it weird that I get a weird sort of pleasure hearing that?” She said.

 

Lena threw her head back in laughter.

 

“Not at all,” she said with a grin and a wink. “You are a Luthor after all.”

 

Kara laughed as well and the CEO was glad for the lighter mood.

 

“I really have missed talking to you,” she said finally. “I’ve missed my friend.”

 

The blonde hero pulled her in for a sudden and tight hug that knocked the air out of the CEO’s lungs.

 

“No matter what, Lena,” she hummed against the blonde’s ear. “I’ll always be your friend. I love you.”

 

Lena knew she meant it platonically, but a traitorous part of her heart wished it meant something more. 

 

But for the first time in years…

 

“…I love you too.” 

 

She said it back.

 

* * *

 

Alex looked up from what she was working on when she heard the doors of her lab hiss open and her niece walk inside with a wave.

 

“Hey, Alex. What are you doing?” Kia asked.

 

The redheaded angel snapped the dismantled parts of her gun together at lightning speed.  


 

“Busy prepping for the next mission,” she answered. “I’ve managed to hand Liam over to J’onn for his fiftieth safety debriefing.”

 

Kia grunted, but a small smirk played at the corner of her mouth at her aunt’s words.

 

“Funny,” she answered. “I would have thought you would have wanted the honour of torturing him.”

 

The agent frowned.

 

“I got bored.”

 

Kia hummed, before picking up a random bit of shrapnel on the bench and warping it into strange shapes with her super strength. After a few minutes, Alex looked at her with a curious gaze.  


 

“So what’s up, kid. I haven’t talked to you in an age,” she asked.

 

The woman nodded in agreement.  


 

“Lot’s of shit’s been going down,” she answered.

 

Alex sighed.

 

“Truer words, never been spoken.”

 

She placed down her gun carefully, before turning to look at her nice directly.

 

“I just… how are you handling… all this,” she asked, frowning at her own obliviousness when it came to her niece lately.

 

The other woman scowled.

 

“How am I supposed to be handling this, Alex? It isn’t exactly like this situation has precedence even among the elite fucked up families. I’m just trying to keep my head above water.”

 

The agent clapped her hand on the hero’s shoulder.

 

“You’ll be ok, Kia,” she replied softly. “Don’t tell anyone, but you’ve always been my favourite niece.”

 

The other woman smiled at her words.

 

“Technically, I’m your only niece. The rest are just honorary.”

 

Alex gave her a one-armed hug.

 

“Still my favourite.”

 

* * *

 

Gary was sitting rather bored in the corner of the DEO when Maggie approached him with an outstretched cup of coffee.

 

“Here you go, Gary,” she said, before taking a seat beside him.

 

He took a sniff of the drink, before handing it back to her with a disgusted expression. 

 

“No, thank you, Maggie,” he said, giving the cup a dark look. “I have no interest in dying from your brown sludge.”

 

The detective looked at him bemusedly, before placing it on the ground gently and taking a sip of her own drink.

 

“My what?” She questioned.

 

The martian sniffed.

 

“This horrendous concoction you call a drink. It is foul.”

 

The other woman laughed.

 

“You don’t like coffee?”

 

The alien shook his head.

 

“No. It makes my nervous system react in ways I do not like. Drugs have never been of interest to me. One of the women I meet last week tried to give it to me in the morning after we had sex. I almost attacked her until I realised that she was just trying to offer me refreshments.”

 

Maggie gave him a look of alarm.

 

“You almost attacked her? What does that mean?” She questioned.

 

The man shrugged.

 

“Well, I jumped on her… but then she got very excited and began to kiss me. She said something about round two?”

 

Maggie grimaced.

 

“Ok, TMI.”

 

Gary tilted his head in confusion.

 

“TMI?”

 

The detective took another sip of her own drink, smacking her lips appreciatively.

 

“Nevermind.”

 

The matin watched her with narrowed eyes before letting out a frustrated groan.

 

“It is very frustrating not being allowed to read your minds. It is a natural evolutionary advantage of my species.”

 

Maggie smirked at the man.

 

“Treat it as a challenge,” she said, nudging his shoulder with her own. “This way you're going to have to actually get to know people. You said you wanted to learn about humans.”

 

The man gave her a thoughtful look.

 

“I am doing my best to become immersed in your culture.”

 

The detective’s eyebrows hit her hairline.

 

“By hooking up with every girl you meet?” She spluttered out.

 

The alien gave her a satisfied grin.

  
“Yes.”

 

Maggie paused, before letting out a bark of laughter.

 

“I can see why you and Liam are friends.”

 

The martian smiled happily.

 

“We have committed out fair share of debauchery across the galaxy, this is true. Though he had an unfortunate tendency to get attached. Then once he knew he was getting attached, he usually dumped them. I think Vran ruined him for relationships. Though he already seemed pretty messed up from that and the guy he was with on Earth.”

 

Maggie frowned at that. She hadn’t heard about Chris in a long time and given how closed mouthed Liam had been about the last ten years of his life, it was interesting to hear that Gary knew about his past boyfriend.

 

“You know a lot about Liam, don’t you?” She asked.

 

Gary shrugged.

 

“Well, we are friends… at least that’s the way I like to think we are. Liam would probably call us ‘business acquaintances’,” he finished with an exaggerated eye roll.

 

The dimpled woman nodded at his words.

 

“Liam always did have difficulty making friends growing up… I’m glad he has at least one now, even if he doesn’t call you that.”

 

She meant her words. Things with Liam had always been complicated, but especially since he had returned. It was difficult to watch him go through his clear emotional constipation issues, but it obvious to anyone with eyes that he had a close bond with his martian friend. 

 

Gary smiled at her words.

 

“He’s a good man, though he’d never admit it,” he replied.

 

Half a second passed before the martian frowned at the woman suspiciously.

 

“He doesn’t want me talking to about him with any of you. He warned me that you might interrogate me.”

 

Maggie batted her eyelashes.

 

“Who? Little old me?”

 

The martian’s eyes narrowed further.

 

“Yes… he said that you’d use you annoying ‘detectivey’ skills to get the information out of me.”

 

Gary frowned.

 

"He also said that I never know when to shut up,” he finished with slouch and a mutter.

 

Maggie watched him carefully.

 

“Did he talk much about his life on Earth?” She inquired.

 

The man shrugged.

 

“Not really, bits and pieces.”

 

Maggie took a long sip of her drink, her eyes never leaving the other man. After a few minutes, the martian relaxed once again and smiled.  


 

“He’s happier here though,” he answered. “I often wondered what sort of people could produce someone like him, but it’s easy to understand now.”

 

The detective tilted her head.  


 

“It is?”

 

The alien smirked.

 

“Of course. Where do you think he learnt to be all secretive and sneaky?”

 

Maggie had to agree, the alien had a point there.

 

"Lying seems to come second nature to you people,” the alien continued. “Secret government organisations and hidden identities… But I can see where he got his brains too. And his sense of humour." 

 

The alien tilted his head and gave her a wink.

 

“Also his tendency towards self-sabotage and dare I say it… his looks,” he said lowly, his words reeking charisma.

 

The other woman couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Try and charm me all you like my friend, but I firmly bat for the other team and I’ve been in a pretty committed marriage for the last million years. Also, I’m not biologically related to Liam so his handsomeness has nothing to do with me.”

 

Gary frowned.

 

“Why does his sister have powers, but he doesn’t?”

 

“Because genetically, she is half Kara’s.”

 

The martian tilted his head.

 

“And he isn’t?”

 

Maggie’s face became closed off.

 

“No.”

 

The martian knew he was walking into dangerous territory, but he pushed forward anyway.

 

“Why not?”

 

The detective didn’t reply for a few seconds, making her mind up about something, before turning to give him her full attention.

 

“When Lena first got pregnant-“

 

Her words were interrupted by the approach of her wife. 

 

“Maggie,” Alex called out to her, her eyes darting to the white martian and back again. “What are you doing here?”

 

The detective stood to her feet, pressed a quick kiss to the agent’s cheek before gesturing to the smiling alien.

 

“Gary was just keeping me company while I waited for you to come out of your meeting,” she said with goodbye wave to the tall alien and walking with her wife. 

 

“Just because all this drama is going on with Cadmus doesn’t mean the day to day run of the mill alien attacks have stopped occurring. I’ve got an interesting case her with an Infernian here with our name on it,” Maggies finished with a smirk. 

 

“Could be just like old times, or have you forgotten?”

 

Alex melted slightly and touched her wife’s shoulder gently.  


 

“How could I forget the first time I met you? You were messing around in my crime scene.”

 

The detective gave her an annoyed look.

 

“Your crime scene?”

 

The agent threw her hands in the air.

 

“I had jurisdiction! I can’t believe we’re still arguing about this decades later when it’s everybody but you accepts the truth, which is that I am right and you’re wrong.”

 

The detective laughed.

 

“Keep dreaming, babe.”

 

Alex smiled, but Maggie could see the lines of exhaustion around her eyes.

 

“Anyway,” the redhead continued. “I’m sorry but I won’t be able to help you on this one. The strategy sessions for this mission with Liam are going to take a while.”

 

The agent frowned.

 

"I just can’t shake the feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong, probably because he’ll disregard orders.”

 

Maggie gave her wife a sympathetic look.

 

“Hey… sometimes you’ve just got to have a little bit of faith. You may not be behind him one hundred per cent, but even you must believe he wants to get to the bottom of all this.”

 

Alex rolled her eyes.

 

“But is he going to do it in a way that doesn’t get my people killed?”

 

Startling them both, Gary suddenly appeared next to them with a wide smirk.

 

“You do realise, that I have a duty to report back your opinion of my friend to him, right?”

 

The agent frowned at the alien, annoyed that she was being eavesdropped on.

 

“Go ahead,” she barked as the alien turned and walked away. "Maybe the seriousness of the situation will sink in further. Make sure you remind him that not all of us can grow back our own heads!”

 

Maggie laughed at her wife’s angry face.

 

“Why don’t you like him?” She asked, her eyes following the alien. “He seems like a decent enough fellow.”

 

The redhead shrugged.

 

“I don’t dislike him, Mags. I don’t know him. But you can’t deny, from the limited stories we’ve heard that he sounds like the shady sort.”

 

Maggie snorted.

 

“You work for a clandestine government organisation, Alex. You are the epitome of ‘the shady sort’.”

 

Alex groaned.

 

“Please, don’t go all overthrow the government on me,” she begged. “You do realise this is the reason you’ve never been promoted, right?”

 

Maggie crossed her arms with a scowl.

 

“No,” she disagreed. “The reason I’ve never been promoted is that I kept turning it down. That, and I still care about doing something useful with my life rather than writing paperwork and rules that end up with people dead for wearing a hoodie at night.”

 

Alex smiled fondly at her wife’s impassioned speech.

 

“You know,” she said softly. “I think I fall in love with you a little more every day.”

 

The detective snorted.

 

“That means I’m still good for something then, right?”

 

The agent took a step forward and pressed her forward against the other woman’s.

 

“Babe, you’re good for everything,” she breathed out. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did we think? Bit lighter than usual, but I'm leading up to some heavy fare next chapter WHICH WILL BE OUT SOON! Provided of course a volcano doesn't erupt on top of me, which I may be prone to considering my funny luck the last few months. Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments below :)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello faithful readers! You are far too good to me :)
> 
> I had a whole day today to dedicate to writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it in all it's angsty glory. 
> 
> Also, I have a Tumblr now though I have zero idea how it works. If you want to friend me (is that what the kids call it?) the handle thing is in my bio. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

_It was raining outside Lena’s office window and unusual occurrence for National City. When she’d first moved here, which seemed so long ago now, she had craved the sunshine that the west coast city had to offer. It felt representative of everything she was trying to accomplish with her rebranded company. A fresh start in a new city, without the lingering problems of her past and family._

 

_It took her a while to realise that the family she had created for herself would have its own host of problems. A long time ago the CEO thought that the worse thing in her life was the disastrous end to her relationship with length. That the loss she felt with her brother would always be the biggest crater in her life. Meeting Kara and having her children had taught her differently._

 

_To love that fiercely and fear every day that she would lose them. Kara and her daughter with their natural born powers, leading them into heroic and dangerous work._

 

_It was a relief in many ways that Liam was as human as her. She had wanted so much for him to be as much Kara’s biologically as her own, but circumstances and her near death birthing Kia had prevented that. But at least, she had thought there was the consolation that he would never be placed in the same line of danger as the Kryptonian half of her family._

 

_The brunette had forgotten that being human came with its own vulnerabilities._

 

_When Liam had first been diagnosed, Lena thought the whole world would collapse around her. The news had shaken their family to the core and the brunette had thrown every bit of herself into making sure her son received the best care possible. Years spent trying again and again to find a cure, but despite all her money and resources the gains they made still weren’t enough to halt it._

 

_It had been a miracle to discover that Liam had gone into remission, but her once bright and happy little boy had become a saddened husk of himself. The toll hadn’t spared the rest of their family and while they were closer in many ways having been tested by fire… In many ways, they couldn’t be further apart._

 

_But at least Liam wasn’t sick._

 

_Until she had gotten the call again._

 

_The relapse inspired shock and disbelief. Lena had felt so guilty for the time she had spent telling Liam that he was healthy once more. Pushing him and providing him a false hope of a cure._

 

_All she was left to do was wonder what she could have done differently._

 

_More biopsy results, treatment plans, surgeries and trying again and again to find a cure. She tried to push down her own guilt and at the neglect, her wife must have felt, instead desperately trying to continue to give Kia at least a normal life. It was harder than ever to look Liam in the eyes, except for the day he had confessed to her that he felt tremendous guilt. That he was somehow ruining everyone’s loves and it would be better if he just died._

 

_How was she supposed to fight for some normalcy in her son’s life when he felt like that?_

 

_It was clear that this time they were heading towards the inevitable. But no matter what Lena hadn’t wanted to give in or give up._

 

_But that’s not what Liam wanted anymore. He didn’t want any more treatments, any more hospital stays._

 

_It was only earlier this week as Lena stared silently up at the ceiling with Kara by her side that the CEO began to accept the fact that her son was going to die. And whether it was at home or in a hospital, nothing was going to change that. She wondered at the relief she felt in her chest at finally accepting that, as if she had finally given herself permission to grieve. That’s when for the first time in years she allowed herself to cry._

 

_Kara had reached out for her then, and for the first time in months, she didn’t shrink from her touch._

 

_“It’ll never be ok,” the brunette had sniffed, while her wife’s strong arms tightened around her. Holding her close to her chest as if she were afraid she would disappear at any moment._

 

_“We need to bring our son home, Lena,” she had whispered, her own voice cracking with pain and exhaustion._

 

_“I know.”_

 

_Kara took a sharp breath, burying her head into the CEO’s shoulder._

 

_“If I could take it, Lena…. If I could take it away and give it to myself. If I could die in his place, I would. In a heartbeat,” she croaked out as the brunette felt the blonde’s own tears dampening her shirt._

 

_“I love you, Kara,” she husked out, trying to remember the last time she had said those words and meant them. Not just in the passing, an obligation or as a greeting. But a real ‘I love you’ that she felt deeply in the core of her heart._

 

_“You did everything you could, Lena. But nothing could have changed it.”_

 

_Lena squeezed her eyes shut so tight she began to see stars._

 

_“I should have been able to. I should have…“_

 

_She couldn’t even finish the words._

 

_“I love you, Lena.”_

 

_The brunette paused, absorbing the words that she’d forgotten she ached to hear herself and turned in her wife’s arms. She watched as her wife’s blue eyes shimmered in the dark of the room, echoing the deep depths of the ocean and was reminded of just how incredibly beautiful she was in every way possible._

 

_Their first kiss was hard, but as they fell into each other quickly and came together with hard desperation as if a physical manifestation of their feelings would somehow halt what was to come in the next month._

 

_All the things that had been unsaid between them for the entirety of Liam’s initial diagnosis treatment had poured out. It was messy and gentle, slow and fast but in afterwards as Kara lay with her head on the CEO’s bare chest Lena finally felt unburdened by the pain of losing her son to cancer._

 

_Nobody ever tells you what moving your son into palliative care feels like. Decisions were to be made, but there wasn’t the same sense of urgency and desperation about them. Liam wanted to die at home, in his own bed. Spending his days doing what he called ‘normal’ things. At least as much as his tiring body would allow._

 

_And he insisted that everyone would just get on with their lives as usual._

 

_Kara had returned to Supering , Kia had gone to school and Lena had returned to work. Though she was hardly productive watching her phone dreading a call she knew was coming and found herself staring out into the dreary weather more than once._

 

_Her thoughts were broken by the buzzing of her intercom and she turned to answer it with a frown._

 

_“Yes?”_

 

_Her assistant hesitated before speaking._

 

_“Mrs Luthor, Dallas Everett is here to see you.”_

 

_The name rang a bell, but Lena still frowned._

 

_“Who?” She asked._

 

_“He’s the CEO of Apollo Industries.”_

 

_Lena leant back in her chair._

 

_“Do we have an appointment I don’t know about?”_

 

_“No, Mrs Luthor. He just… turned up and demanded to see you.”_

 

_The brunette’s frown deepened and she restrained herself from yelling at her assistant that she wanted to be left in peace. That was when the name of the company rang a bell. Apollo Industries, an up and coming biomedical research company that she only knew about because of their skyrocketing share prices._

 

_Even when the world was falling apart around her, she could retain control of her business sense and try not to alienate a potentially huge contender._

 

_“Send him in.”_

 

_The door clicked open, revealing a middle-aged man with silver-streaked hair and a tight smile. Lena rose to her feet and held out her hand in greeting._

 

_“Mr Everett, a pleasure to meet you.”_

 

_The man shook it firmly._

 

_“Mrs Luthor, it’s an honour.”  
_

 

_Lena sat down, gesturing for him to do the same._

 

_“So, Mr Everett. You demanded to see me, so I presume whatever you have to say is urgent. What can I help you with.”_

 

_The man grinned broadly, before opening the metal briefcase he had carried in and opening it between them with a hiss._

 

_“Actually, I’m here to help you and it’s a matter of some urgency.”_

 

_Lena looked down to see a series of fluorescently glowing vaccines sitting in the foam of the case._

 

_“We’ve done it, Mrs Luthor.”  
_

 

_She looked up at the man, confusion evident in her eyes._

 

_“Done what?”_

 

_The man let out a laugh._

 

_“My company, Mrs Luthor. We discovered the cure for cancer.”_

 

_Lena’s heart stopped, but her brain couldn’t believe it._

 

_“What?” She whispered out, her arms trembling._

 

_Dallas Everett took one of the vials and held it out for her to take._

 

_“We’ve discovered the cure for cancer, Mrs Luthor. I can save your son’s life._

 

* * *

 

“Nina, you can’t keep avoiding me.”

 

The young woman rolled her eyes at her eldest brother’s exasperated tone, annoyed that he kept hanging around the DEO and haranguing her whenever she went to a team meeting about the Cadmus threat.

 

“All the evidence would point to the contrary,” she responded dryly.

 

The man reached out to halt her steps and grabbed onto her elbow, yanking her around to face him.

 

“Jesus Christ, Nina. Enough! I’ve been more than patient, but it’s time to come home.”

 

Nina’s face turned red with rage at his condescending tone.

 

“Home? Home? What do you know about home!” She whisper-shouted, mindful of the fellow agents running around them.

 

Her brother’s scowl mimicked her own.

 

“Don’t test me-“

 

She interrupted him with a sharp jab to his chest, pushing him back half a metre with force.

 

“What do you want from me, Carter? To go back to a ‘safe’ life? You know, I don’t get this family. My whole life, everyone has been following the path of a hero. Of danger. But for some reason, I can’t? Am I missing something?”

 

His mouth twitched into a snarl.

 

“You’re naive, Nina. You have no idea how the world works,” he spat out viciously.

 

The short woman snorted.

 

“While I disrespectfully disagree…. How am I supposed to ‘get’ how the world works, if I don’t go out into the world? Odd logic bro.”

 

Nina turned on her heel and began to walk in the direction of the conference room once again.

 

“You have no idea the shitstorm you’re getting yourself involved in here,” he shouted after her.

 

At that, she looked back at him with an incredulous expression.

 

“How is this any different to what every single one of you does?” She asked, thinking of her family. 

 

“What, everyone in the family can be involved in dangerous shit except for me? Why? Because I’m the baby? I’m more than just my age, Carter. I’m not a child.”

 

Carter’s face softened slightly at her hurt tone.

 

“And yet, you still behave like one,” he muttered, before looking at her bereft. “Listen to me, seriously now. This whole situation is going to get very messy, very fast. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes. You’re not ready for that. I’ve talked to Dad, and if you really want to pursue this we’ll give you something small and simple to cut your teeth on.”

 

He gestured around the DEO with disgust.

 

“This Mess… with the arguments and the yelling and Cadmus. This is the whole reason we left in the first place, remember?”

 

Nina tilted her head.

 

“So we’re superheroes, but without the hero part right? C’mon, Carter. You’re an arrogant shit, but you’ve never tried to tell me who I should be.” 

 

She gestured around the room.

 

“And this, right here, is who I should be!”

 

He scoffed.

 

“They’ve put you on babysitting duty for a psychopath.”

 

Nina’s thought flashed to Liam. And the image of him at breakfast this morning giving her a lopsided smile before throwing a pancake at her head and the way he pouted when Lena had turned to lecture him on etiquette.

 

“He’s not a psychopath, Carter,” she answered softly. “He’s… he’s trying.”

 

Her brother gave her an aghast look and she struggled to school her features.

 

“Oh, God… I was joking before, but it’s actually true,” he asked, disgusted. “You’re falling for him again, aren’t you?”

 

Nina’s face contorted and she turned her back to him.

 

“Ok, I’ve had enough,” she barked out. “End of discussion.”

 

He tried to halt her once again.

 

“Nina-“

 

She clenched her fists, before turning to him for a final time.

 

“Carter, I’m helping here. I’m doing something and things are getting better because of it. And it’s making me happy knowing that. My advice, do yourself a favour and stop being Dad’s errand boy. Maybe then, you’ll find something to be happy about too.”

 

On that note, she stormed off. Leaving her confused brother behind.

 

* * *

 

Liam checked his gear efficiently, admiring his sleek gun and armour. Examining it for any faults he needed to be aware of. The man would never admit it, but he felt a great sense of pride in the black colour his gear had been upgraded to. It made him feel like he was actually apart of the DEO. 

 

Plus the fact that his gun could now shrink into the size of a pen now was pretty cool.

 

He was so fascinated with it, that he almost missed his sister watching him from the armoury doorway.

 

“All set?” She asked when he looked up from his task.

 

The dark-haired man nodded and clicked the final component of his gun into place. 

 

“Yeah, should be fun,” he answered. “Pretty much going to run around to a bunch of different public places and see if anyone has the balls to try anything.”

 

Kia crossed her arms and frowned.

 

“You sound sceptical.”

 

He shrugged.

 

“Espionage is all well and good, but I doubt this will work. Alex has enough undercover DEO swarming around to make me stick out like a sore thumb. Nobody is going to approach me.”

 

Kia sighed and scratched the back of her neck.

 

“She’s just doing her job. We have rules around here Liam,” she said flatly.

 

The green-eyed man gave her a wry grin.

 

“I’ve been googling you, you know,” he said with a wink. “You don’t fool me, I know for a fact you outgrew your brown-nosing tendencies a long time ago. You’re a lot brasher than Mama ever used to be.”

 

Kia frowned at her younger brother’s brazen words. 

 

“I do what I have to, the way I have to… as long as I don’t hurt innocent people and the rules I break are the stupid ones.”

 

The man chuckled, eyeing her with humour.

 

“And you’re the arbitrator of what is stupid now then?” He asked.

 

Kia leaned forward, giving him a no-nonsense glare.

 

“When it comes to you, obviously.”

 

He made a show of clutching his heart.

 

“You’ve got jokes now then, huh?”

 

She sniffed, the corner of her mouth twitching into a smile.

 

“I’ve always had an impeccable sense of humour. The fact that you’ve never noticed it is another clear indication of your stupidity.”

 

At that, Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“And now we’ve broached into an insulting territory. Maybe it’s best we don’t break out into a fist fight in the middle of the DEO. Best to make sure we keep that sort of nonsense restricted to the bar.”

 

His attempt at sarcastic levity darkened the mood between them and Kia shifted uncomfortably on her feet. 

 

“Yes… I wanted to…apologise for that. I should have been… better behaved.”

 

Liam gave her a shocked look, stunned by her apology before his eyes filled with their own guilt.

 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” he muttered, swallowing his pride. “But the onus is on me here. I should be the one apologising. I guess I look at you and I just see… I don’t know. You bring up a lot of stuff for me.”

 

Kia’s eyes softened at his words and her shoulders relaxed.

 

“You’re not exactly a fond memory for me either, brother.”

 

Liam nodded and stared down at his feet.

 

“I’m sorry about… is there even any point in apologising?” 

 

She gave him an indignant look and Liam waved her down.

 

“Don’t look at me like that… I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just, there are so many wounds-“

 

Kia snapped, cutting him off with a bridge and tight voice.  


 

“Look, I don’t want to do this. Just because you seem to be on some sort of reinvention, self-forgiveness trip. We aren’t going to have some sort of grand reconciliation,” she said harshly.

 

“Kia-“

 

She didn’t let him finish.

 

“My life isn’t enriched at all by having you in it and we’ve never been friends.”

 

Liam watched her carefully, before taking a deep breath and nodding in acceptance.

 

“Ok.”

 

Her eyes widened in surprise at his simple response.  


“What?” 

 

The dark haired man shrugged.

 

“I’m not going to chase you, but I’m just… here for you if you need me.”

 

The hero took a deep breath, thrown off balance by his out of character behaviour. Liam turned back to his work, fiddling with the shoulder guards that he didn’t need, but insisted upon so he could ‘look the part’. 

 

“Look,” she began to say, making him look up at her. "I’m a bitch.”

 

Liam smiled.

 

“Nothing wrong with that.” He answered.

 

Kia struggled for words and her tongue felt heavy. She never was very good at explaining her behaviour, especially not in the past ten years but despite her conflicting feelings towards her brother she wanted him to understand.

 

“I care about her… a lot.”

 

Liam stared at her, his eyes softening with awareness of exactly who his sister was talking about.

 

“I know,” he responded.

 

Kia’s brow furrowed as she watched her brother.  


 

“You like her too, don’t you?” She asked,

 

Liam stuttered and dropped a cartridge on the table. He hesitated for a total of five seconds, gathering his thoughts before he responded.

 

“Yes.”

 

The single word hung between them and settled like a thick blanket. Everything in the room seemed to become quieter and louder simultaneously as both their heartbeats raced against their chests.  


 

“But neither of us are going to go there, are we,” Kia said in a dangerous tone, eyeing her brother with a warning.

 

Liam bit his tongue before responding.

 

“Shouldn’t that be her choice?” He asked.

 

Kia hugged herself before responding.

 

“Maybe… except I’m an emotional disaster who hasn’t gotten over the death of her fiancée and your… well, you. Between Tristan and I’m guessing this… Vran…. I don’t think you have the best handle on romance either. And she deserves a romance with someone who's going to treat her like a Queen, you and I are far too self-involved for that.”

 

Liam’s face stormed, but he nodded in acknowledgement.

 

“Plus, it’d be like robbing the cradle,” he replied.

 

Kia nodded.

 

“We knew her growing up.”

 

“As a kid.”

 

“So it’s weird.”

 

They stared at each other for a full minute, the tension rising between them once more.  


 

“Hmm.”  


 

* * *

 

 

_“What am I doing here, Tristan,” Liam asked his boyfriend uneasily, his hand stuffed in his hoodie pockets as he looked around the meeting room with wary eyes._

 

_It looked simple enough, rows of chairs set up and facing a raised podium. Small groups of people of people were huddled around the edges speaking to each other in quiet voices, smiling and occasionally letting out a laugh._

 

_Evidently, they were all waiting for someone to show up to speak._

 

_Tristan waved at a couple in greeting, before turning back to Liam and holding his hand out to take._

 

_“Oh come on, it won’t be that bad. It’s just a group of people concerned about and interested in the best future for our city.”_

 

_Liam scoffed, but took the outstretched hand with a smile and allowed himself to be dragged further into the room and towards the snack table that had been set up._

 

_“I didn’t know you were that invested in politics,” he said flatly, eyeing the brewing coffee beadily._

 

_His blonde boyfriend perused the spread carefully, before dipping a few crackers in the hummus and stuffing them into his mouth._

 

_“It’s not like that,” he answered, crumbs flying. “It’s just about being involved and carrying about your home. You were the one who told me that you had been feeling apathetic with your life. You’re turning eighteen in a few months and you’ve got some big choices ahead of you. Nothing wrong with learning a little more about ordinary folk instead of sitting in your ivory tower.”_

 

_Liam scoffed at the words, crossing his arms defensively._

 

_“As if you can talk, Mr ‘I have a private driver’. You’re even more spoilt than me.”_

 

_Tristan nodded, dusting his hands off on his pants._

 

_“Just so. Makes it even more important that I do everything I can to give back. Come on,” he continued, noticing that people had begun to sit. “I think it’s about to start.”_

 

_Liam follows him with a grumble, nabbing an aisle seat near the back. There was an energetic buzz in the room as people whispered excitedly amongst themselves._

 

_“So what exactly is this person going to talk about,” Liam asked. “It looks like an AA meeting in here.”_

 

_Tristan gave him an annoyed look, but grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze._

 

_“Seriously? Can’t you just give it a chance, for me?”_

 

_Liam lost himself in his boyfriend’s doe-eyed expression and nodded in acceptance._

 

_“Fine. But if they start to talk about ‘making amends’ I’m out of here. I’ve got no interest in redemption.”_

 

_“Shh,” Tristan whispered as the lights dimmed slightly._

 

_People calmed in the room, a minute passing before a well-dressed man walked into the room._

 

_Liam rolled his eyes at the dramatic entrance and the roaring applause from the crowd, even when Tristan dug his elbow into his side to participate._

 

_The man waved a hand with a hundred dollar grin and quieted down the room._

 

_“Thank you, thank you. It’s always amazing for me to return to my hometown of National City to speak. The best crowd in the world.”_

 

_More applause followed and Liam sunk in his seat._

 

_“For those of you who don’t know me….”_

 

_A wave of laughter passed through the crowd and the man’s smile widened._

 

_“My name is George Lockwood and I’m here to talk to you guys a little bit about the past and a little bit about the future. For those of you that are new to these new to these meetings, I just want to let you know that you are so welcome in our community. We’ve got to stick together more than ever because that’s how we stay strong. I learnt that from my father and my grandfather. Family is everything and that’s what we are. Just one big family called the human race.”_

 

_The crowd clapped again as George paced in front of them._

 

_“My dad had a quote…. well really, Winston Churchill had a saying that Dad liked to repeat. Never give in. Never give in. In nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Never ever, give in.”_

 

_Liam frowned at the man, a feeling of unease settling in his stomach and he tried to catch Tristan’s eye but the other boy was staring at Lockwood with fascination._

 

_“It took me a long time to understand what he meant,” the speaker continued while the crowd nodded along. “But I saw the evidence with my own eyes. My grandfather died when a brawl between over powerful aliens took place in the skies of this very city. No American should have to grow up in fear and violence. Violence while their house is  lit on fire because of a fight between a Martian and a Daxamite.”_

 

_Growls erupted amongst the crowd and Liam’s face turned white at what he was hearing._

 

_“Fear when their father loses his job because his words rang too close to home. Freedom of speech is what this great country was built upon, and for the past thirty years, that has been eroded more and more for the sake of not offending anyone. Never mind, the families hurt and displaced. The jobs are taken away because they don’t have the strength of an alien that replaced them. Don’t worry about the skyrocketing of taxes as more and more damage is created in the aftermath of these battles in the sky. They think they're untouchable and can treat us like dirt beneath our feet.”_

 

_The crowd roared at that, Liam looking with horror as Tristan joined in._

  
  
“But I say, to hell with that!” Lockwood yelled out. “Some would argue, try to shut us down by saying we’re blaming others for our problems as if the evidence isn’t right in front of their noses. The governments allowing them to run unchecked, giving them amnesty and subsidising their ‘transition’ into society.”

 

_His eyes scanned the crowd and settled on Liam briefly, making the young man shudder at their intensity._

 

_“Trying to convince us that these aliens are just like us. Forgetting, that they aren’t even people.”_

 

_The words were hissed out and the crowd seemed to agree._

 

_Liam was just glad when Lockwood’s eyes moved on._

 

_“They want to appease them. Appease and appease, again and again. But it’s all just talk. But we know, don’t we that it’s all just words. Sooner or later, we have to stand up for ourselves and fight.”_

 

_He slammed his hand down on the podium._

 

_“We’ve seen the damage they’ve wrought on our city, our country… hell, our world. Because that’s what it is, isn’t it? It’s our world, not theirs. Never theirs. We never asked for this? We never said yes to the invasion. Now they want to tell you to look to Supergirl. Look to Superman. How they lay on the wire to protect us every day. But they’re just cleaning up the very messes that they cause!”_

 

_Liam’s fear was overrun by his anger and he stood to his feet.  
_

_“I can’t listen to this anymore,” he muttered to Tristan._

 

_The other boy seemed to finally notice him and made to grab his arm._

 

_“Liam-“_

 

_The green-eyed boy shrugged him away._

 

_“Get off me,” he muttered before walking away and towards the door._

 

_He was stopped when George Lockwood himself called out to him._

 

_“Does what I say make you uncomfortable, son?” He asked._

 

_The boy turned to face the smiling man, squirming when he noticed the whole crowd watching him._

 

_“Look you do you, guys,” he said uneasily. “I just don’t want to live with hate in my heart.”_

 

_Lockwood nodded, before stepping off the podium and walked towards him._

 

_“What’s your name, son?”_

 

_The green-eyed boy hesitated, but Tristan volunteered the information._

 

_“Liam.”_

 

_Lockwood nodded in thought._

 

_“Liam… that’s an interesting name. Do you know what it means?”_

 

_The dark-haired boy shrugged._

 

_“Yeah… it means I’m a protector.”_

 

_The man’s smile widened and continued to walk until he was standing directly in front of him, forcing Liam to look up into his eyes._

 

_“And a warrior, son. It means you’re a warrior. The thing is, I look in your eyes and I don’t see a warrior. I see fear. But you don’t need to be, Liam. What’s happening in this world is happening to us and that gives us power. It means we can fight back and we can all be warriors.”_

 

_The crowd murmured in agreement, but Liam shook his head._

 

_“You sound nuts.”_

 

_Despite his words, Lockwood’s smile merely widened._

 

_“That’s just what you call all human visionaries. People who are scared to own their own power. Have you ever felt powerless, Liam? Like no matter what, your life was headed in an invertible destination? Like you have no control?”_

 

_The words sunk like honey and Liam’s thoughts flashed through every single inadequate feeling he had ever had. The way his sister had so much power and all he could do well was die from cancer. The sheltered way he was raised as if he was made of glass and the festering anger he felt when that treatment continued even after he was cured._

 

_“I…”_

 

_Lockwood noticed his struggle and clapped his shoulder._

 

_“It’s ok, son. That’s what this meeting is about. That’s why all these people are here, listening to and supporting each other. It’s not about hate, it’s about taking our power back and realising that they’re not stronger than us. That we can be in charge of our own destiny. Kryptonians, Mandalorians, Daxamites, Helgramites, Caluans… where does it end? With every human being treated as cattle beneath their ‘superior feet’? We have to educate ourselves so we can protect ourselves.”_

 

_His arms seemed to bore into Liam’s soul._

 

_“Don’t you want that son? To be able to protect yourself? To realise you are just as strong as they are? And even more important? We care about our own here, I don’t want you to be just another cog in the machine. I care about you, Liam. Will you stand with us?”_

 

_Liam stood silently, his mind racing as the man held out his hand for him to take. He looked around at the room, smiling at him and his eyes settled on Tristan. The blonde gave him an encouraging nod, but it wasn’t enough to quell the feeling of unease._

 

_“I’m sorry, I can’t.”_

 

_He turned on his heel and walked away, almost stumbling as Lockwood’s words followed him._

 

_“We believe in you, Liam. We’ll always believe in you. Liberty.”_

 

* * *

 

Lena looked up from her paperwork with a start when someone opened her office door after a single knock. A smile graced her surprised face at the sight of her daughter carrying a large bag and stood to her feet to give Kia a quick hug.

 

“Well, this is a nice surprise!” She said once she let her go, happy that her daughter returned the hug tightly. “How are you, darling?”

 

Kia gave her a tired smiled, lifting the bag for her to see.

 

“I’m ok Mom. I was just wondering if you wanted to have lunch? I brought Chinese.”

 

Lena felt delighted at the gesture, her heart warming in her chest. She couldn’t recall the last time Kia and she had had food together, just the too of them. It boded well that maybe the fence between them was actually on the mend.

 

“Yes, actually,” she replied, gesturing for her daughter to sit down on the couch. “I’m starving. I always forget to eat.”

 

Kia let out a laugh and handed her a pair of chopsticks.

 

“I know,” she replied. “Mama used to come round to your office every day to feed you lunch when you were dating. I remember the story when she had just put out a forest fire then came crashing through your office with the-“

 

“Smores she had roasted on it,” Lena finished with a groan, remembering that day. “God, your mother always was ridiculous. She had the biggest, goofiest smile on her face though. I couldn’t even find it in my heart to reprimand her when she got soot all over my couch.”

 

Kia smiled at her words, her eyes far away. Lena noted with delight that her daughter managed to remember her manners and eat politely instead of stuffing her face with food the way Kara and Liam did.

 

“She seems happier now that you two are going to therapy or whatever,” Kia said suddenly.

 

Lena carefully ate a potsticker before responding in a light voice.

 

“Well, therapy can be very useful,” she said eyeing her daughter. “Helps to resolve the lingering… issues.”

 

Kia shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

 

“Yes, well,” she said gruffly. “Good for some people, not for others.”

 

Lena decided not to press the subject of her daughter receiving help for her mental state, remembering how badly it had gone down when she had brought it up before.

 

“You seem happier yourself, Kia,” she said honestly, smiling at her daughter. “Anything new happening in your life?”

 

The chestnut haired woman nodded, clearly relieved to be talking about other subjects.

 

“Well it looks like I might finally get a promotion at work, which is completely shocking but I guess that’s what happens when I start to hand my projects in on time,” she responded with an eye roll.

 

Lena bit her tongue. She knew that despite Kia’s instance otherwise, she actually adored her day job and was a dedicated as she could be.

 

“Seems like spending time with Nina has been good for you then,” Lena said before taking a bite of her chicken.

 

The brunette raised an eyebrow when a light flush grew on her daughter’s neck at her words.

 

“Yeah, she’s been… well. I guess I didn’t really know her growing up. Was she always this smart?” Kia asked, clearly flustered.

 

Her tone piqued Lena’s interest, and a suspicion grew in her mind.

 

“I guess I would describe her as precocious,” she responded.

 

The younger woman smiled.

 

“Hmmm, that hasn’t really changed.”

 

The thought clicked in her mind and Lena felt a flame of worry grow as her mind drifted to the way she had noticed her son looking at Nina recently.

 

“You like her, don’t you?” She asked flatly.

 

Kia’s face turned white and she took an enormous bite of her beef.

 

“We’re friends,” she finally said when Lena’s eyes didn’t abate.

 

The brunette shrugged.

 

“I didn’t say you weren’t.”

 

An awkward silence descended between them and the CEO immediately regretted her words. She let out a heavy smile before placing her takeout box on the table and twisting to face her daughter.

 

“You deserve so much happiness, Kia,” she said quietly, grabbing the younger woman’s attention. 

 

“More than anyone on this Earth. You deserve to live a life you’re excited about.”

 

Kia’s eyes flashed with conflicted emotions before she looked down at her feet.

 

“More than Liam?” She muttered out painfully and vulnerable.

 

Lena’s brow furrowed at the difficult question.

 

“Your brother’s problem is that in his desperation to move forward,” she finally said. "He’d prefer to forget the past. Your problem is that you live in it.”

 

Kia sniffed at that, surprising Lena as she was used to the stoic facade her daughter usually projected and hid behind.

 

“I had it all mapped out, you know,” the younger woman said in a choked voice. “My whole life in front of ever since I was a kid. And then it all went up in smoke. When I lost her, I wanted to die. And I was so angry. I wished that it had been Liam instead of Rebecca who died. It sounds awful maybe, but sometimes I still think it.”

 

The pain in Kia’s voice was so tangible, Lena wished she could reach into her daughter and take it for herself.

 

“True happiness is about letting go of what your life is supposed to look like,” Lena said softly. “We can’t turn back time, even if you flew backwards around the world fast enough. And you’re not a terrible person for thinking that. Lord knows I would sacrifice the whole world to keep my family safe. Rebecca was your love. How can I judge you for wanting that back when I’ve never felt that loss?”

 

The younger hero looked at her through wet eyes.

 

“Haven’t you though? With Mama and then… Liam. Did you ever… did you ever wish that it had been me gone instead of Liam? That you could’ve traded us?”

 

Lena shook her head and pulled her daughter in for a tight hug.

 

“Never,” she mumbled into her ear. “I love you, Kia. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone or anything. I love your brother and I love you. I could never choose between the pair of you. You aren’t commodities to be weighed and valued against each other. You’re my children and I love you both equally. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel differently.”

 

Kia gripped her even tighter.

 

“We spent all that time not speaking and I…. I’m sorry too,” she whispered out.

 

Lena’s own eyes began to fill with tears.

 

“It’s never been your job to look after me, Kia,” she whispered. “Your only job is to live the best life you can possibly have.”

 

The younger woman pulled back, wiping her eyes and giving her mother a watery smile.

 

“I just forgot that the best life I can have has you in it, Mom.”

 

The CEO’s heart filled with love and she reached out to cup her daughter’s face.

 

“I love you, sweetheart,” she replied.

 

Kia nodded.

 

“I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So we’re clear on what you’re doing?” Alex asked, sitting across from Liam in the DEO van while he fumbled with his earpiece.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Simple drop. Keep in contact, don’t lose your cool.”

 

“Yes.”  


“Make sure you follow protocol. You do remember protocol, right?”

 

Liam rolled his eyes.

 

“Yes, you made me take four written test on DEO department rules and regulations. Then you made me go down to fill out forms with Josie in HR which took a full day… Can I just say, I remember when Pam was there and she was way nicer. She used to give me cookies when J’onn’s stash was empty.”

 

Alex frowned at his cavalier attitude.

 

“Are you taking a single thing I’m saying seriously? Do you have any idea of the gravity of this situation? People’s lives are on the line here. Kara was in the hospital with Kryptonite poisoning due in large part to your lack of discipline. This isn’t bounty hunting, this is _my_ department and I care collateral damage.”

 

Liam had to stop himself from responding sarcastically.

 

“I promise, I’ll toe the line,” he said instead. “I want this as badly as anyone, Agent Danvers. If you don’t believe in my willingness to help, that believe in my selfishness. I want to know what happened to me during that year. Cadmus has to pay for what they’ve done.”

 

Alex frowned at her nephew’s dark tone.

 

“Don’t allow your emotions to make you stupid. Use your head,” she warned and advised.

 

He gave her a salute.

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

The agent let out a breath.

 

“Then let’s do this.”

 

* * *

 

 

The third week of wandering around another National City park had taken a lot of the wind out of Liam’s sails. 

 

“This is quickly becoming tedious,” he muttered as he pretended to read a newspaper on a bench. “This is the fifteenth time I’ve wandered out into public places and we’re still no closer to anything at all.”

 

Alex chuckled through the earpiece.

 

“Part of the job, nephew mine,” she responded.

 

The bearded man groaned.

 

“The boring part. When I was a kid I could have sworn being part of the DEO was all cool car chases and epic fights. Nobody ever told me I’d have to fill out mission reports after every operation when absolutely nothing interesting happened except a bird shitting on a kid.”

 

He could practically hear her shrugging at his complaints.

 

“Welcome to the government, Liam.” 

 

The man was about to respond but shut up when he spotted a rat faced and skinny man approaching rapidly out of the corner of his eye. The man didn’t look dangerous, but he was nervously glancing around every few seconds. 

 

Liam’s hand tightened on the pen gun in his pocket at the man walked towards him.

 

“Liam Luthor?” The man asked in a tense voice.

 

The dark-haired man nodded in response when Alex gave him the go ahead.

 

“That’s me.”

 

The other man nodded with relief, looking around once more and gesturing for Liam to follow him.

 

“We don’t have much time. Come with me.”

 

Liam struggled to keep up with the near sprinting man as he made his way down a pathway into the centre of the park, thick with trees.

 

“Where are we going and why do you look so terrified?” Liam questioned.

 

The man didn’t respond fast, ducking behind a large tree before looking at Liam warily. 

 

“You would be too if you knew what I know,” he said darkly. “If you could remember.”

 

A rush of pins and needles flooded Liam’s body.  


 

“What does that mean?” He questioned. “Look, dude, who the hell are you?”

 

The man swallowed, his eyes darting around once again.

 

“I don’t have much time.”

 

Liam growled, grabbing the man’s shirt and lifting him from the ground. Ignoring the protests form Alex in his ear and the squeal the man-made.

 

“Then start talking,” he demanded. “Are you another weirdo trying to kill me? Going on about how I’m not human? Jesus, tell me you don’t grow back limbs too, because I like have the monopoly on that.”

 

The man shook his head.

 

“No. The woman you met before in the park… the one who died. Her name was Cindy Lautner. And the other man, the one that attacked you at L-Corp… They were a part of a group that Cadmus experiment on. It turned them mad.”

 

Liam shook the man.

 

“What experiment?” He questioned furiously. “What were they trying to do?”

 

“They were trying to make humans stronger, faster,” the man replied. “Give them abilities equal to any alien. Expect it didn’t work. Some of the subjects died during the process, some of them got some abilities and others… Well, they all lost their minds.”

 

The dark images of the crazy cult-like man the DEO had in custody flashed in Liam’s mind, as well as the hissed words the Cindy Lautner woman had hissed to him.

 

“Is that what Cadmus did to me?” He asked. “Experiment on me?”

 

The man’s eyes flashed with something unknown.

 

“I was a scientist on the project… After your disappearance, we were trying to replicate the success that we had with you. But you were different. Your chemistry was different.”

 

Liam frowned, trying to place the pieces the man was telling him into the complete jigsaw puzzle he already had of his past.

 

“Different how? Why can’t I remember anything that you did to me?”

 

The man squeaked again.

 

“I don’t know!” He shouted desperately. “I only came on after you escaped. We weren’t given all the information, there were different cells working on different projects. All trying to create the perfect human.”

 

The words rung in Liam’s ears and he let the other man go with shock. Was that what Cadmus was trying to do with him? All the augmentations and abilities… was it all to try and recreate some sick Arian fantasy?

 

“Was I the only one that made it out sane?” He asked lowly.

 

The man shook his head.

 

“No, there was another.”

 

Liam’s heart lept in his throat.

 

“Who?”

 

The man opened his mouth to answer when a sudden crack of a gun sounded. Liam looked down at the man’s chest in shock as a swell of blood grew across his shirt and the light disappeared from his eyes.

 

“Jesus Christ, not another one,” Alex’s voice sounded in his ear as Liam whipped around in search of the origin of the bullet.

 

A black armoured and helmeted figure stood fifty metres away, weapon still raised before he turned rapidly on his heel and sprinted away with a superhuman speed that matched Liam’s own. The dark-haired man was about to follow when Kia’s voice sounded in his ear and Supergirl swooped down from the sky and towards the running figure.

 

“I’m going after him!” She shouted.

 

Liam rushed to catch up, but the second Kia reached the figure a large green explosion of gas knocked him off his feet. His ears rang with the noise and he swore his eardrums had been burst. They repaired rapidly as he struggled to his feet, looking dizzily and with horror as the figure of his sister lay sprawled on the ground while the armed assailant sprinted away.

 

“KIA!” he heard his mother scream, Kara landing outside the lingering green gas, reaching for it only to pull back with a hiss.

 

Liam had no such qualms, running forward and into the smog, kneeling beside his sister, a wave of relief flooding him when he realised she was still alive.

 

“Jesus Christ,” Alex swore in his ear. “More kryptonite?”

 

Kia opened her eyes and Liam’s heart clenched at the sickening green glow reaching up her neck. He picked her up as gently as he could, quickly carrying her outside the cloud. His mother rushed to them with super speed, hovering her fingers over her daughter’s green veins. 

 

“Is she ok?” Alex asked in their ears. 

 

Kara reached to touched her daughter's skin but withdrew as if she had been burned once again. Liam stood to his feet, a cold sense of calm descending as he turned to face the direction the assailant had ran.

 

“I have to get her to the DEO,” Superwoman said to her sister aloud, not even noticing that he son had begun to sprint away.

 

“Kara you can’t. The Kryptonite is weakening you too. It must be in the air,” Alex responded.

 

A beat passed before she spoke in her nephew’s ear.

 

“Liam, disengage now.”

 

His feet pounded against the ground so fast he swore that he was leaving craters. He was almost there…  


 

“No!” He shouted. “They keep hurting me and my family. I’m going after him.”  


 

“Hades,” Alex barked back. “I’m ordering you to disengage.”

 

He hesitated for half a step, before pulling out his earpiece and throwing it to the side.

 

“Fuck it.”

 

The green-eyed man had made it to the road and finally spotted the agent climbing onto a motorcycle. He was just prepared to launch after him when his super-hearing picked up on the sound of his sister’s cracked voice.

 

“Liam… stop…”

 

He skidded to a halt and his need for revenge disappeared in the wake of fear for his sister. As quickly as Liam could, he made his way back the way he came until he was kneeling beside his sister, his heart racing at the sight of blood around her lips and he red eyes.

 

“Hey, hey…You’re alright,” he said, gripping her hand tightly.

 

Her body wracked with pain.

 

“Just coughing up Kryptonite…. easy peasy,” she said hoarsely.

 

Liam placed her head in his lip, while his mother cried next to them. In agony at her inability to help her daughter.

 

“Come on now, don’t be a pussy,” he replied. “You’ll be fine, you’re the toughest person I know.”

 

Sweat beaded on her forehead.

 

“Now I know I must be dying… you’re giving me compliments.”

 

Liam laughed at her exasperated tone.

 

“It wasn’t a compliment, it annoys the shit out of me.”

 

Kia nodded, her hand growing limp in his as she appeared to lose consciousness.

 

“…hmmm.”

 

Liam panicked and shook her body.

 

“Hang on there, I need you to stay awake. Think happy thoughts,” he said tensely.

 

She coughed.

 

“I.. don’t… getting… hard… to…. breathe.”

 

Liam began to cry.

 

“Don’t give up!” He yelled out. “Come on now, nobody wants you to give up. You’ve got so much to live for.”

She squinted at him.

 

“Like… what….” She said brokenly.

 

Liam leaned cradled her body closer to his chest.

 

“Mom and Mama for one,” he answered. “I reckon they’ve had their fair share of trauma when it comes to their kids, don’t you? You can’t do that to them. You’re the golden kid, remember? And what about me, huh? Someone needs to be around to keep an eye on me. Then there’s Nina, isn’t there. Or is this you conceding defeat?”

 

There was a deathly pause before she responded.

 

“….never.”

 

Liam laughed hysterically and nodded at her response.

 

“Well, that’s good, because I’m persistent. You’ve got to bring all the hearts and flowers.”

 

Kia breathed out her reply.

 

“We’re both too fucked up… for hearts… and flowers…”

 

The dark-haired man shook his head in refusal.

 

“Nah, you’re a big old softie… Everyone knows it. Rebecca wouldn’t have picked someone out unless they were incredible. She’d want you to stay awake for me.”

 

Kia smiled at the mention of her dead fiancée.

 

“Becs…” she whispered out before her eyes rolled back in her head.

 

Liam turned to his fraught mother.

 

“WHERE’S FUCKING AIR LIFT?” He screamed, before turning back to his sister and hugging her limp body tightly

 

“Kia…. stay with me.”

 

* * *

 

_Lex Luthor stood at the centre of a darkened room watching the screens around him with care, his eyes absorbing as much information as he possibly could while his mind ran with possibilities. The door to the room opened with a hiss and a black armoured agent entered, standing behind him silently at rest while Lex thought._

 

_A few minutes passed before the bald man turned and gave the helmeted agent an appreciative nod._

 

_“You killed him then?” He asked, redundantly though as he knew the agent wouldn’t be standing before him unless he had succeeded in his task._

 

_The helmet nodded and Lex let out a hum while he stared into the dark slits._

 

_“Problems?”_

 

_“Nothing to be concerned with. Supergirl and Superwoman were there, but I released the Kryptonite gas. That slowed them down,” the agent replied in a distorted and metallic voice, warped through the visor._

 

_Lex nodded in satisfaction, stroking his greying beard._

 

_“And the mutt?”_

 

_“Paisley told him just enough to get him interested, but I stopped it before it could go any further. Don’t worry boss, everything is proceeding as planned. The DEO is following the trail we wanted them too and they have no idea what’s really going on. What we have planned.”_

 

_“And yet, you sound displeased.”_

 

_“Wouldn't it just be easier to kill him, boss? Before he begins to remember?”_

 

_“No, I’ve told you before. I want him alive.”_

 

_“He’s nothing, boss.”_

 

_“He’s a genetic marvel, Adam. I need what is in his mind and DNA to continue the advancement. Only then will Cadmus’ endgame unfold as planned. Don’t question me.”_

 

_“Then why don’t we just take him, instead of this long game?”_

 

_“He needs to come back voluntarily. He’s already proven adept at escaping, I don’t want it to happen again. Without him, everything we’ve done will be for nothing.”_

 

_“And what about the Supers… and Lena.”_

 

_“Don’t worry, my faithful Agent of Liberty. They’ll get what’s coming to them. A front row seat as their entire world burns.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR BOMBS HAVE BEEN DROPPED! We're entering a new phase in the epic tale, what will happen next? I had a plan for the Liam/ Tristan storyline that was weirdly echoing of the Agents of Liberty storyline this season so I just took the opportunity to include it.
> 
> LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT!!! I LOVE READING YOUR COMMENTS :)


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok peeps, three weeks in a row and I am officially back on my hot streak with updates! I am the lord and I have ordained it so. Hope you guys enjoy!

“Do you ever wish you never had superpowers?”

 

Kara looked up from her unconscious daughter to her ex-wife, sitting across from her on the other side of the hospital bed.

 

“What?”

 

Lena took a shuddering breath, her eyes never leaving her daughter’s face before he spoke again.

 

“I just… do you ever wish you never had superpowers, or that you were born human? Sometimes I wish I wasn’t born into a manically family. That I had normal boring parents with a mother who liked me and a father who told Dad jokes instead of throwing bottles of whisky into the fire with rage. And that Lex was… Lex was just there for me. Do you ever wish that it had all been different? That we had just been too normal people, without the money and the company and the alien thing. We just ran into each other on the street one day or we met on a dating app and then bam. That we go together like normal people, without all the rubbish, terrorist threats and black op agencies. And that our children couldn’t fly, shoot laser beams, have super strength or the ability to grow limbs back. And that they could be happy and not have to deal with even more fucking crap than we ever did. That they didn’t become so fucked up because of our mistakes?”

 

Kara absorbed the words, trying to make sense of the mix of emotions Lena had spoken with.

 

“That’s a lot of wishes…. and regrets,” she finally said.

 

The CEO shook her head.

 

“No, I could never regret my children. And meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, I just…. wish.”

 

“That things had been easier?”

 

Lena finally looked at her at that, her eyes tired and old with a lifetime of pain.

 

“Yeah.”

 

The blonde glanced at her daughter, before looking back up at Lena, whose eyes hadn’t left her’s.

 

“But without all that other stuff, we wouldn’t be who we are. Maybe we never would have fallen in love with each other.”

 

The brunette let out a light laugh at her words.

 

“I didn’t fall in love with you because you were Supergirl, Kara. I fell in love with you because you’re kind, funny and you care so damn much about everything that you do. I fell in love with you because you believed in me and supported me. Because you brought me lunch and dragged me home when I stayed to late at work. Because of the endless amount of emojis you sent me and the way you found out my real birthday because you just wanted someone to know and care. Because you’re an amazing journalist, with such a gift for words. And you’re so damn intelligent, my god you are smart. You could keep up with everything I do at work and you cared about what I did. That and the fact that you were adorably dorky and ripped under those cardigans you used to wear.”

 

Kara struggled not to blush, kicking herself for her typical reaction to any compliment Lena had ever given her.

 

“And I’m so sorry for imploding the one core thing in my life left when I cheated on you,” Lena continued, grounding the blonde once more. “Everything was going so wrong, things just kept going wrong. Liam had… left and Kia was a shell of who she was. And we could barely look at each other any more. And I felt so alone, all I could do was think about however since we met, I had been given the most amazing gift. But because of who I am, who I really am the universe had to balance it out by making the most horrible things happen to us both. The problems we had even getting together, then when I almost died giving birth to Kia. Then Liam, who you always called our miracle getting sick. Then we almost lost him, only for him to be snatched back from the jaws of death and lost again in a worse way imaginable.”

 

Those words and the memories hung between them.

 

Lena took another deep breath when Kara didn’t respond.

 

“Do you remember what you said to me…? After the bombing?” She asked.

 

The hero closed her eyes in pain.

 

“I said it would have been better if he had died from cancer, then for him to….to…”

 

Lena nodded, her hand scrambling to find her daughter’s limp one for some comfort.

 

“I was so angry with you for saying that.”

 

Kara nodded solemnly.

 

“And you had…. have…every right to be. That was… what kind of a parent thinks that about their child?”

 

The CEO sighed, defeated.

 

“That was the thing, Kara. I wasn’t angry because you said it. I was angry because… because a part of me agreed. I was disgusted with myself, not you and then after that, I just couldn’t stop it. I thought everything that had gone wrong in my life I completely deserved, and that in some twisted way it was all my fault. The worst part was, I still had you even if we were battered and bruised. Because me being with you had destroyed your life too. I had taken this beautiful, amazing person and I had infected them with the poison that is me. And I just needed… I needed to free you, for your own sake. Because I knew that cheating and lying aren't struggling, they’re reasons to break up. And I know now that it was wrong and horrible and the worst thing I could have done to us. I can’t even just use the excuse of doing it to spare you from being with me anymore, because a part of me just did it because I wanted to. Because it was something I could control again in my life. It felt good. To be needed and wanted without a history of damage to carry. I don’t even… Cheating is far to nice a term. It’s too clean and gentle for what I did. It wasn’t like I peeked at your hand in a card game, I emotionally detonated the rest of our marriage. I took out life and I broke it. I murdered it dead.”

 

She had begun to cry and it took all of Kara’s strength not to rush to her side and pull her into a deep hug.

 

“And I’m saying this as an excuse, or to rationalise it because…”

 

Lena swallowed tightly.

 

“All it does is reinforce the fact that I have been responsible for everything that went wrong. She wouldn’t be lying here at all if it wasn’t for me. And the most horrible crime of all is the one I’m about to commit.”

 

Her eyes snapped to Kara’s violently, positively brimming with more emotion than she had shown in years. The blonde instinctively leant forward at the intensity, a part of her should still craving the words Lena would whisper to her when she was feeling most vulnerable.

 

“I still love you, more than anything,” the brunette cried. "You’re the one. You’ve always been the one and I am so sorry for letting everything that I felt about myself destroy it when I should have shared it with you. Spending so much time with you now has made me realise why I pushed myself away because I was just so tired of feeling and you make me feel _everything_. And if I could turn back time…” 

 

A part of Kara sung at the words. Her heart cried to pull her in for a burning kiss, praying that their daughter didn’t suddenly wake up to see that horrifying sight. She wanted to scream from the roofs that the stars had realigned and that she and her love were finally together again. That everything in the universe finally made sense.

 

But the single thread of control she still held her back.

 

Instead, she let out a breath and gently reached out to take Lena’s hand in her own. Still cherishing the feel of the pale woman’s skin. 

 

“It’s taken me a really long time to say this, Lena,” she whispered, pained. “And it’s so out of order… but I… I have been angry, for a very long time. And it’s not just you, but…. You know more than anyone that I’m not just this happiness personified soul I… The pain I’ve felt in my life, hasn’t been all because of you.”

 

She looked directly into her ex’s eyes.

 

"My planet died and that wasn’t your fault. My parents were lost and that wasn’t your fault. You cheated on me and that…. hurt. And it made me question myself, mostly because of how willing I was to forgive you. I didn’t really, there was a kernel in my soul that boiled with the injustice of it, but I’ve been so in love with you for so long that I was willing to do it without even thinking. I think, losing Liam just added to the pile of issues I already had with losing the people that I love time and time again.” 

 

Kara began to rub her thumb over Lena’s hand in small circles, saddened at the memories.

 

“A part of me was desperate to cling to the only foundation I had in my life,” she continued. “Which was you. No matter what anyone says, infidelity isn’t a simple thing to handle. It’s messy and complex, with a whole lot of reasons and possibilities. I’ve spent five years with people who clearly picked my side, or didn’t say that didn’t when I just wanted to talk to someone who understood why I was so confused about it. Because I’m entitled to feel however I feel and react the way I wanted. The thing is, I didn’t even realise how mad I was until you made the decision for me. I wanted to discuss it with _you_ and _you_ wouldn’t let me. In trying to spare me, you hurt me the most. Because no matter what happened to us, there was no future for me without you in it.”

 

Lena’s breath caught and the blonde could hear her heart rate pick up, but still, she restrained herself.

 

“It can’t be as simple as other’s would like. Trying to say I should find someone else who will appreciate me the way I deserve when I know that it was always you who did that. There’s no way to predict the future, but…. I’ve spent five years given you space to figure out the decision _you_ made and frankly I think it’s my turn to take the reigns on this one. You’re right, we’ve led complex, downright horrid sometimes, lives. Our children have had horrible things happen to them, or be a party with. But I wouldn’t change what made us who we are. Even though all the horribleness, we found each other. Think of the chances of that. Of all the planets I could have been sent to, I was sent to Earth. And because of that, I was adopted by the Danvers. And because of that, I ended up in National City. And because of that, I found you. You might never have been adopted by the Luthor’s. You might have decided to walk away from your family’s company. You might never have moved to National City. And because of that, you would never have met me. And we had never met maybe all these horrible things might never have happened. But what about all the horrible things we stopped? That we stopped together? And what about all the good we did? We got married and we built our own family. Our daughter can fly and has your brains because no matter what you say you’re still smarter than me.” 

Kara smiled tearily down at her daughter, drinking in her features before looking up at Lena who was in a smilier state.

 

“And our son, our royally fucked up son, wouldn’t have, in his very roundabout and destructive way, been here. Now. There’s still so much you don’t know about him, Lena. The things he told me about his time away…. Our son travelled the stars, Lena! He saw the universe and did so many things. He lived more than most people do in their life and now he’s here. And he’s completely imperfect and has caused you more grey hairs than you’ll ever admit. And don’t put me on a pedestal, because I’m not perfect either. There are things I did with Liam that…. Nothing had ever stopped you from professing your unconditional love. We all live our lives in extremes, and nothing had a simple answer to fix it.” 

 

Kara gestured to her daughter then.

 

“But this, right here…. Kia being hurt isn’t your fault. She knew the risks when she signed up for the job, just like me. Neither one of our children takes well to being ordered not to do something. Ever since they were babies they both went their own, usually opposite, way on everything they did. But our daughter is a fighter, she’s a survivor… and she learnt that from you as well as me. And Cadmus, whoever did this… should be absolutely terrified. Because now they’ve hurt both our children in every way possible. This isn’t your fault, it’s theirs.”

 

The blonde held back her rage at the faceless people, swallowing as she made another choice.

 

She dropped Lena’s hand and leant back.

 

“And I… I don’t want you to make confessions about love now when we’re already so emotional, because I don’t want you to say something you’ll regret later.”

 

The words were heavy and hard, but they were true.

 

Lena leaned forward, trying to retake her hand but the blonde pulled back.

 

“Kara-“

 

The hero’s eyes burned, cutting her off.

 

“You know I love you. I’ve told you already. That hasn’t changed, ever. But…. please for my sake, don’t say it back when our daughter is lying unconscious between us.”

 

Lena let out a breath, another tear falling down her face, but she nodded her head and accepted the answer.

 

“I’m sorry, Kara. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that I keep doing everything wrong.”

 

Kara looked down at their daughter and smiled.

 

“Not everything wrong.”

 

There was a silence between them after that, both unsure of what to say. Lena digested everything Kara had told her when her mind caught on something in particular.

 

Her brow furrowed.

 

“Kara, about Liam…what did you do with him that-“

 

She was cut off when Kia let out a sudden gasping groan, coughing and opening her eyes. She took in the sight of her parents with a start.

 

“….hey,” she wheezed out.

 

There was a second of relief before both older women became furious.

 

“You scared the hell out of us young lady,” Lena hissed.

 

“What were you thinking? What have I told you about assessing the situation? You knew they could have Kryptonite!” Kara interjected.

 

“You come to have lunch with me every day and you conveniently fail to mention the week-long baiting of Cadmus you’ve been doing? And your brother too!”

 

Kara shook her head.

 

“You almost…. Your brother thought you were dying in his arms and I couldn’t even touch you!”

 

Kia waved her hands, desperate to stop them talking and winced.

 

“Ok, ok! Jesus,” she said, pressing her hand to her head with a groan. "I feel like crap enough already, I don’t need my parents ganging up on me right now.”

 

At her words, a switch was flipped and she was suddenly engulfed in tight hugs form both parents.

 

“I have no idea what I would have done if I lost you,” Lena said haggardly.

 

Kia patted her back awkwardly.

 

“I’m ok, Mom. At least I think I am…”

 

They both pulled back.

 

“You’re going to be ok. The Kryptonite wasn’t as potent as it was with me. No nanobots or anything,” Kara said with a teary smile.

 

“Thank God,” her daughter groaned. “I did not want to be using a friggin respirator like an old woman.”

 

“Hey!” Kara protested.

 

The younger woman shrugged and smiled.

 

“I’m just saying… speaking of, I have an argument to finish with idiot brother… if he’s so distraught, where the hell is he?”

 

* * *

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a hit as much as I want one now,” Liam said slowly, staring down at the floor an unable to take the number of eyes on him. “Which make’s no sense because I really don’t get this whole sober thing. I’ve had way shitter times it before, I mean my mother was in this exact situation recently, but this is just… hitting me like a freight train.”

 

Liam looked up at that, his face haggard with stress and exhaustion. He felt like a mountain of everything he had been denying had landed on him in one fell sweep. He felt pathetic, sad and small and wanted nothing more than to not feel that way.

 

He looked around at his fellow NA members, watching him silently and without judgement. That’s what he was told before his first meeting by his mother, that this was a place for sharing. Liam had scoffed then but understood the need for a safe space better now. It’s not that he wanted drugs specifically, he just didn’t want to feel anything right now.

 

“It just all felt so real now,” he whispered out. “Because now I’ve finally started to hold myself accountable. Even though her getting hurt wasn’t my fault directly I just… I’m trying to be a better man but nobody ever told me that being a better man would mean feeling so incredibly shit about who I was before. For so long I just pushed my mistakes aside because I weighed them up against the horrible things that had happened to me. I figured I didn’t have to make amends for my actions as long as I had been wounded by life too. And now I’m trying to overcome how I feel about everything that has been set so firmly in my mind for what feels like my whole life. I’m trying to forget my own evil to forgive myself, but it just seems to keep chasing me. Like I’m at the epicentre of a storm that just hurts everyone around me. I didn’t want to care about my sister again. I spent so much of my life resenting her for everything I thought she had better than me that I forgot that I loved her.” 

 

He had begun to cry, sniffling while he wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. Liam could practically feel Nina’s eyes burning into his back as she watched him silently along with everyone else. She had insisted that she come to this meeting, so had his mother and he didn’t feel like fighting them.

 

Honestly, he wanted her to hear it.

 

“But when she was hurt and in my arms,” Liam continued. "I didn’t see that person I resented, I just saw the sister I loved. The person who taught me how to ride a bike and helped me read when I just couldn’t understand. The one who slept in my room when I was too sick to leave it and the sister who found it in her heart to accept me back, even a little, when I got her fiancé killed. I was so blinded by the hate that had been stoked in me that I didn’t even realise that they were using me. The first time I did it because… I don’t even know why. I was so angry at everyone and I just…. It wasn’t me, but I was the reason it happened. If it hadn’t been for me, it never would have happened. My uncle died because of me, all those innocent people….dead. And Rebecca dead with them. And my sister knew all that. She saw the truth in me and she still gave me a shot and then I almost got her killed too.”

 

Liam clenched his fists.

 

“I just keep hurting people again and again and I just want to stop feeling this way. The only way I know how to do that is to run and numb myself out. And I can’t do either of those anymore. All I’m left with is coming here to talk about all my shittiness in the hope that it stops me from doing something that’ll let myself and the people in my life down even more than I have already.”

 

His fingers fell slack, and he looked around the meeting once more.

 

“I am so sick of feeling sorry for myself,” he whispered out without energy. “But I don’t know what to feel anymore.”

 

He sat down on his final words, feeling like he had unloaded a bucket of rubbish on people who had so many of their own struggles to deal with.

 

The NA meeting finished pretty soon after that, Liam bolting out the door as soon as he was done. He was just in desperate need of air.

 

The man heard Nina following him, but it was only once the exited onto the street that he turned to look at her.

 

She watched him with a concerned and disturbed look, struggling for words before she spoke carefully.

 

“I’m sorry for you having to… I’m sorry that I was here to hear that. It was obviously personal.”

 

Liam shrugged.

 

“I would have said something if I had a problem with you being here, Nina. I’m sorry for dragging you away from the DEO when Kia is… when my sister is… I know that you care about her.”

 

She touched his shoulder lightly and gave him a gentle smile.

 

“Hey, I care about you too. And don’t get all self-defeating on me now. You waited outside the door of the med bay until Alex gave the all clear. You were the one who restarted her heart, Liam. Kara couldn’t touch her and you were the only one who had the physical strength to do it. It isn’t selfish of you to come to a meeting when you’re distressed to stop yourself from doing something you’ll regret.”

 

Liam didn’t believe it, but he appreciated that she did.

 

Nina’s phone buzzed with a text which she showed him with a smile.

 

“See? Everything is ok.”

 

He read it, feeling instant relief that his sister had woken up and turned on his heel to start walking.

 

“We better head back.”

 

Nina pulled him up, clutching his arm gently.

 

“Hey, hold on a second.”

 

Liam shook his head.

 

“Nina, she just woke up. I need to-“

 

The younger woman cut him off with a flat stare.

 

“What you need, is to take a breath,” she said slowly. “Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got some serious mood swing issues?”

 

The tall man let out a humourless laugh.

 

“Gee, thanks.”

 

She smiled at his sardonic tone.

 

“I’m serious! You’re doing it right now. You feel everything and react to everything in some extreme way or another. You’ve got no equilibrium or calm… unless you’re being a calculating prick.”

 

He was confused about how this was supposed to make him feel better about himself.

 

“And this is supposed to help me..?”

 

The woman sighed, tired herself.

 

“Look you’re not perfect, but at least you’re trying. You’re new to this whole being a good person thing. You’re still learning. You know what’s the most important part of becoming a good person?”

 

“What?”

 

Nina punched him in the shoulder lightly.

 

“Forgiving yourself. Believing in yourself. Trusting yourself. Loving yourself. Torturing yourself over thoughts of what if or what could have been or how you should have done something does nothing. Answer me this, do you love your sister?”

 

“Yes."  


 

“Do you love your parents?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Do you love your family?”

 

“Yes.”  


 

“Then forgive them too.”

 

He blinked in surprise.

 

“What-“

 

The dark-haired woman cut him off.

 

“I’m not saying it is or isn’t justified, but however it happened they hurt you somehow. You hurt somehow. Forgive yourself, forgive them. We all make mistakes, but if you can’t forgive yourself you’ll always be an exile in your own life.”

 

Liam watched her, his mouth slightly agape but a sudden wave of calm eased over his mind at her words

 

“How can you be this smart?” He questioned with a thankful smile.

 

She shrugged.

 

“It’s a burden, believe me,” Nina said cheekily.

 

He watched her for a second, his mind filling with instant longing for the comfort she offered. His eyes darted to her lips, but then he quickly reigned in his thoughts.

 

It was neither the time nor the place.

 

“Come on, let’s get back.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey there,” Liam said gingerly, his eyes looking over Kia’s body and assessing for an injury that may have magically appeared in the time he was gone.

 

Finding nothing, he took a few more steps forward, still hovering two feet from the actual bed.

 

His sister watched his actions with heavy amusement and an arched eyebrow. 

 

“Well this is a change of events,” she drawled out. “I seem to recall it being me who visited you in hospital, not the other way around.”

 

Liam took humour as a good sign and risked moving forward and sitting on the empty still beside her bed. 

 

“I like to keep it fresh, what can I say,” he replied with a shrug. “How are you feeling?”

 

Kia let out an exaggerated cough.

 

“Like I flew face first into a cloud full of Kryptonite.”

 

Her brother rolled his eyes.

 

“Cause that was the smart thing to do.”

 

The other woman made a show of inspecting her fingernails.

 

“I was trying to get our man. Surely you can’t deny I had good intentions,” she responded pointedly. “I am really getting sick of all this runaround and mystery… I miss the days of a good, honest to god alien attack. They’re way more straightforward than all this clandestine, mystery crap.” 

 

She groaned and dropped her head back on the pillow.

 

“Humans are so fucked up.”

 

Liam gave her an incredulous look.

 

“You’re half-human!” He cried out.  


 

“Yeah,” she said shortly, looking at him like he was crazy. “That’s why I’m only half-fucked up. You got the full whammy, as evident by your whole life.”

 

Liam let out a low whistle, clutching at his chest dramatically.

 

“You are a _dick_ now,” he said with a smirk.

 

Kia chuckled warmly, surprisingly Liam once again with her remarkably good mood considering her near death experience.

 

“I’ve always been a dick.”

 

The bearded man huffed.

 

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “But now you think that you’ve got a sense of humour when you were clearly never the funny one. Let’s face it, Bec was the brains and the wit of your relationship.”

 

Liam could’ve punched himself the second he heard himself bringing up his sister’s dead fiancé, but was shocked when the other woman smiled widely instead.

 

“Well any girl that can puke her guts out in one breath and then deliver a verbal smackdown in the other has clearly got the smarts,” she said lightly. “I never denied that I was marrying up.”

 

They laughed together, and Liam was struck about how profoundly easy it felt to laugh with his sister. Something he could barely remember doing before.

 

When their laughter died though, sadness grew in its place as his thoughts settled on Rebecca.

 

“I miss her,” he whispered out.

 

Kia looked off in the distance, her eyes shimmering slightly.

 

“Yeah,” the hero breathed out. “She was… something.”

 

They both say in silence after that, sifting through the memories of the other woman.

 

Kia was the first one to speak.

 

“I remember, the conversation we had before I lost consciousness.”

 

Liam remembered them too, bantering about not giving in with Nina.

 

“I stand by those words,” he said quickly, eyeing his sister with mock suspicion. “I’m not backing down just because you carked it.”

 

Kia scoffed.

 

“I’d be insulted if you did,” she laughed. “But I’m actually talking about the other thing you said. About Rebecca.”

 

Liam’s smile died.

 

“Ah”

 

His sister watched him for a bit, her eyes drifting over the lines of his face as if she weighing him up. Measuring him to see if he was worthy of what she was about to say. Eventually, her eyes shifted until they landed on an empty coffee cup set on a table, forgotten in a corner of the room.

 

“You know,” she began to speak, her fingers tracing light patterns on top of there sheets. “I never talk about it because… well, I don’t really know how to. It’s not something you just get over you know. I was never going to wake up one morning and be cured of it. I’m always going to be thinking about it.” 

 

Her eyes drifted back to Liam’s, who was watching her silently.

 

“But what you said was true, Bec wouldn’t want me to give up. She’d want me to kick ass and fight like hell to stay alive. She’d want me to be the best version of myself and for the last decade, I’ve been so caught up in what I lost when she died, that I forgot about what she taught me when she was alive. She’s always going to be beside me every day, but there’s got to be a way for me to manage it. Honouring her and taking that sadness to put some good back out into the world. Some good into my life.”

 

Liam bit his lip to stop himself from crying, cursing the fact that he had been reduced to a weepy mess in the space of a few hours.

 

“And you came to this epiphany in five minutes did you?” He said huskily instead, struggling the clear his throat and inject amusement into his words. “God, you even had to be better at self-realisation than me.”

 

Kia laughed half-heartedly.

 

“Well, I am older than you,” she said with a shrug. “And I never had my head up my own butt like you. I meant to ask, how do you see in there?”

 

At the ribbing, Liam laughed. Really laughed until the tears he didn’t want to shed finally fell down his cheeks.

 

“Shut up and stop making me laugh,” He said, rubbing his eyes while he jerked his head in the direction of the viewing glass. “They’re watching us from the other room and they’re going to think we’re both crazy, joking with each other like this.”

 

Kia's eyes went wide, and she leaned towards him like she was conveying a secret.

 

“You know the real reason Lex went nuts, don’t you?” She whispered out. “It’s because the world wouldn’t know what to do if two Luthor kids worked together. Can you imagine? Total world domination, mwahahaha.”

 

Liam eyed her warily will she cackled away at her own words.

 

“Seriously, are they giving you too much morphine or something?”

 

Kia snorted.

 

“Why, do you want some? I heard you went to an NA meeting.”

 

The tall man scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward.

 

“Yeah, well… I didn’t want to do something stupid,” he muttered.

 

His sister nodded.

 

“Probably a good policy, considering your track record.”

 

Liam wished he could punch her.

 

“Shut up.”

 

The woman laughed again, and Liam was once again struck by the action. Trying to remember when he last heard her laugh so much in a single setting.

 

“The day I don’t make fun of you,” she replied. “Will be the day you _actually_ have to check if I’m crazy.”

 

Liam couldn’t laugh with her, his eyes turning misty once more.

 

“I was terrified, you know. I just couldn’t stop thinking that it was my fault,” he choked out.

 

Kia groaned dramatically.

 

“Only Liam Luthor could make me nearly dying about himself,” she said flatly.

 

He shook his head vehemently." 

 

“You did die! Your heart stopped!” he accused.

 

The tall woman pursed her lips.

 

“Meh, shit happens. That’s why you were there anyway.”

 

Liam nearly stood up to shout.

 

“Oh, I was there to save your life?”

 

The older woman bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t smile.

 

“You owe me a few, dumbass.”

 

He rubbed his hand down his face.

 

“Yeah…”

 

At that dragged word, Kia sunk back fast into her pillows and threw her hands up and into the air while she talked to the ceiling.

 

“God, you and Mom are exactly alike,” she complained. “All that whining and self-loathing and blah blah blah… I’m surprised My Chemical Romance songs don’t just orbit around your head.”

 

“What do you want from us?” He responded. “We do shitty things, then we feel shitty. You want us to feel shitty, but you don’t want us to talk about how we feel shitty.”

 

She turned her head and gave him a flat-eyed stare.

 

“The solution being, don’t do shitty things.”

 

“But the shitty things have already been done!”

 

Kia couldn’t take it anymore. She sat bolt upright and twisted her legs until they were hanging off the bed and she could face him properly.

 

“Ok, I’ve had enough,” serious, and without an edge of sarcasm. “We are going to get this done once and for all because I am sick and tired of dealing with it _without_ talking about it. Frankly, my own emotional health can’t take it anymore and if I want to make progress in my own life we need to do this.”

 

Liam took a deep breath.

 

“Ok.”

 

The woman shuddered, eyes closing briefly before reaching out and placing a hand over his heart while straining to listen as closely as she could to it’s beat.

 

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering anymore… And it may have been asked and answered before but…”

 

Her fingers tightened on his chest, and her eyes locked with his. Green and Blue staring into each others soul.

 

“The bombing at the hospital,” she husked out. “Without the details, I just want to know, did you do it?”

 

Liam let out a breath.

 

“No.”

 

His sister watched him for half a minute, silence echoing before she nodded.

 

“Ok.”

 

The green-eyed man caught her arm when she moved to drop it, holding it against his chest once more.

 

“But I’m still responsible,” he said brokenly. “If it hadn’t been for me, that hospital never would have been targeted it in the first place. I was the one who told them that it also treated aliens. I didn’t mean too… I never wanted them to… It’s still my fault,” he said haggardly, staring to cry and unable to look Kia in the eyes, even as her fingers tightened their grip.

 

“I’m the one responsible for Rebecca dying. I slipped up and I just… I had lost control of everything in my life and I felt so alone, so when Tristan… I allowed myself to slip into a cesspool of hatred…“

 

He could barely speak anymore as tears dripped down his cheeks and his voice grew croaked. 

 

He almost missed his sister’s whispered words. 

 

“I forgive you.”

 

Liam’s eyes snapped up in disbelief, watching as Kia’s own eyes misted with tears.

 

“What?” He asked breathlessly.

 

She took a deep breath before replying steadily.

 

“I can’t change the past, neither can you. But by doing this I can change the future. It’s what they want, it’s what they’ve always wanted. Don’t you see? These people have pulled the strings in all our lives. They've manipulated all of us and change our behaviour by creating fear and dividing us. That’s what they tried to do today.”

 

Liam frowned.

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

Kia dropped lifted her hand from his chest, pressing it to the side of his head.

 

“These people want you,” she said empathetically. “But they have no qualms about hurting me or Mama. All of this centres around you. They want you to be afraid, they want you to feel alone because then you’re an easier target. We won’t let them win.”

 

Her words were bitten out, but rigid with strength.

 

“That doesn’t explain why you’ve forgiven me,” he whispered out, still confused.

 

Kia’s hand dropped, grasping his chin this time so his eyes couldn’t escape hers.

 

“Because you’re my brother. Because it’s what Rebecca would have done. Because I can’t be angry anymore, I don’t want to be. Because by doing this, I can forgive myself and stop trying to figure out what I could have done differently to stop it. Because you were a child who was manipulated. Because by forgiving you I’m forgiving myself to move on. Because it’s been ten years. And because I know in my heart that you’re a different man now.”

 

Her hand dropped, falling into her lap. The room filled with the sound of their shared breathing and medical equipment.

 

“I’m trying to be,” he said in a small voice.

 

Kia shook her head.

 

“No, _you are_. The Liam who landed back here months ago would never have saved my life today. He wouldn’t be crying now.”

 

Liam lifted his shirt, scrubbing his face furiously to try and stop the flow.

 

“I’m not crying.”

 

Kia laughed, twisting her legs so she could lay back down in bed.

 

“Yes you are and so am I. And we really need to stop otherwise everyone here is going to realise that we can cry, which is the last thing we want. Out reps are hanging by a thread as it is.”

 

Liam watched his sister, smiling at her widely as his heart felt a little bit lighter and less infected.

 

“I love you, Kia.”

 

She looked at him with surprise, before gripping his hand in hers.

 

“I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

Kia resisted the urge to roll her eyes, looking up at the latest visitor to open the med bay door with a hiss.

 

“I’m going to get a sticker I can put on my head that just says ‘I’m fine’,” she moaned. “The number of times I’ve had to answer that question today…”

 

Nina smiled at her, but the hero could easily see the dark circles below her eyes as the younger woman pulled up the stool next to her bed.

 

“Indulge me.”

 

Kia fisted her sheets in frustration.

 

“I feel like I want to get out of this bed and this stupid gown so we can all get down to catching the bastard who did this to me,” she said snarkily. “That asshole definitely deserves a slap in the face.”

 

Nina let a laugh slip out before she bit her lip.

 

“Well I’ll be sure to get of your way when you deliver it,” she responded, still with an amused smirk.

 

Kia shook her head, her own mouth stretching into a smile. The action finally starting to feel more familiar.

 

“Are you kidding me? You’ll be right there with me. On the front lines and ready to kick butt.”

 

Nina nodded in appreciation, but it didn’t fully reach her eyes.

 

“Sadly, I don’t I’ll ever graduate past the apprenticeship phase I seem to be stuck in. I’m not complaining, looking after your brother has been… enlightening. At first, it was annoying because he never shuts up. But then it became less annoying because he never shuts up. I was so determined to see him as this monster, but…. I came here thinking I was going to be this big hero, finally breaking free of my family and actually living up to my potential. I thought everything was black or white. But being here has taught me so much about life. Nothing is simple at all, is it? 

 

The woman’s eyes filled with fun and amusement.

 

“And Liam is a complicated mess at the best of times, but I feel like we’ve grown together somehow. Plus, he actually does have some pretty cool stories. Did he ever tell you about the time he hijacked a warship?”

 

Kia felt her heart sink slightly at the delight lacing the other woman’s voice when she talked about Liam. 

 

“As shocking as it sounds,” she responded blandly. “We haven’t been on the best of speaking terms.”

 

The younger woman winced.

 

“Sorry.”

 

The blue-eyed woman sighed, annoyed at herself. She reached out and placed her hand gently on the dark-haired woman’s, Nina’s eyes flickering to hers at the action.

 

“Don’t be.”

 

Nina’s face scrunched up briefly, but she didn’t move away from Kia’s touch.

 

“I just… All of it has been so different and I’ve been thrown into it. But there’s still so much I’m not ready to handle, and I know that now. I’ve got so much more to learn.”

 

Kia absorbed the words, before tilting her head and giving the other woman a half smile.

 

“Bet you’re not enjoying the paperwork though.”

 

Nina groaned dramatically.

 

“Oh, God,” she cried out. “The paperwork is mad! How in the hell Liam manages to weasel his way out of it every time…”

 

Kia withdrew her hand, stretching before folding them behind her head.

 

“Male privilege,” she said wisely, with a nod. “He figures if he never does it someone else will eventually pick up the slack.”

 

Nina rolled her eyes.

 

“Reminds me of my brothers….” she grumbled.

 

The hero’s mood lightened at the words, her mental chances inching slightly higher.

 

“Men,” she reinforced, sticking out her tongue and making the other woman laugh once more. “Ugh.”

 

The short woman leant back on her stool, rocking slightly while her face became ponderous. She watched Kia silently for enough time to make the blue-eyed woman uncomfortable. The hero was just about to interject with a random comment when the younger woman finally spoke.

 

“How did you know you were a lesbian?”

 

Kia almost choked on her own breath, hoping that everyone would just stick to the story that she died in the park before her mind finally caught up with her rapid heartbeat.  


“Well, that’s a bit of left field question to ask someone on their deathbed,” she spluttered out, face flushing slightly.

 

Nina averted her eyes and Kia could spot a flush of her own growing on the woman’s cheeks.

 

“You’re not dying,” she muttered, clearly uneasy.

 

Kia felt a pang of sympathy, resisting the urge to steer away from this conversation while simultaneously deep diving into it.

 

“I know,” she said softly, the other woman finally looking at her. “It’s just that I can’t remember the last time someone asked me that. It was always normal, for me.” 

 

She gathered her thoughts before answering steadily.

 

“You must have felt it too. Growing up in this zoo where basically everyone is gay or a little bit bent it never seemed like something I didn’t know. I saw my parents and my aunts together and it all aligned inside with how I felt about girls. I think it might have been a little more complicated for Liam to figure out he was bi actually, but even then he had Mama to talk to. I don’t want to say I was a player in high school, but I really was. Same goes for college. I thought I was Rao’s gift to humanity… literally. I don’t think that really had anything to do with my sexuality, but Christ did I love girls. All the girls, all the time. Then, one day, it was just one girl.”

 

Kia smiled at the memory, Nina watching her expression closely.

 

“Rebecca.”

 

The light haired woman nodded, drawing herself out of her own memories.

 

“Yeah… Total babe though,” she smirked. “I had no idea the shaved head thing did it for me, but let me tell you-“

 

Nina clutched her hands to her ears.

 

“Ok, ok. TMI.”

 

Kia tried not to laugh.

 

“Well, you asked.”

 

The other woman gave her an aghast look.

 

“Not because I wanted a blow by blow!” She hissed out.

 

The blue-eyed woman shrugged, still smirking.

 

“Your loss.”

 

The younger woman watched her for a few moments, the corner of her mouth softening as the panic dimmed.

 

“You know,” she said quietly. “I think this is the nicest I’ve ever seen you.”

 

The word lit a warm glow in Kia’s chest, but she rushed to keep it in check lest she says something stupid.

 

“Helps that I’m sober,” she said instead.

 

A flash of disappointment crossed Nina’s face but is dissipated back into a smile. 

 

“For sure.”

 

Kia watched her carefully for a few seconds, trying to make up her mind about something before she finally just bit the bullet.

 

“Are you thinking about it yourself?”

 

Nina seemed to instantly know what she was talking about because her face grew panicked once more.

 

“I….”

 

As she trailed off, Kia put her hand gently over the brunettes once more. 

 

Nina’s eyes flashed to hers.

 

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

 

The shorter woman’s mouth parted slightly.

 

“Kia-“

 

Her speech was cut off by the sound of the door hissing open once more and Nina quickly withdrew her hand back into her own lap.

 

Alex walked in, completely oblivious to Kia’s scowl in her direction.

 

“Alright, that’s it,” the redhead said, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the door while she eyed the brunette. “

 

She turned to look at Kia, reproachable.

 

“You need your sleep.”

 

The hero crossed her arms with a huff.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

The agent threw her hands up into the air.

 

“I wish everyone in this stinking family would stop saying ‘I’m fine’. ‘I’m fine’ is officially banned in here when you’ve officially died.”

 

Kia’s eyes narrowed at her aunt.

 

“Fine!” She shouted out.

 

Nina smiled at the pair of them before standing to her feet.

 

“I’ll talk to you later, Kia,” she said gently. “Try to sleep.”

 

The hero watched helplessly while the other woman slipped out the door. Once it had closed, she turned her glare back to her aunt and resisted the urge to heat bison her into a pile of ash.

 

“I’m going to kill you,” she spat out.

 

Alex looked up from her medical notes, confused by the venom in Kia’s voice.

 

“Wha did I do?”

 

The hero felt like crying.

 

“Old people,” she groaned.

 

* * *

 

_“Did she die?”_

 

_Adam asked the question too eagerly and Lex was once again forced to file that unsuitable behaviour away in his mind._

 

_Bloodlust._

 

_“Our source says no,” the older man replied, not hesitating in his steps towards the lab while the agent hovered behind him._

 

_“Too much to hope for, I guess,” the man muttered, his breath near tingling Lex’s ear. “She’s always been lucky.”_

 

_“Don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment,” the bald-headed man replied coolly as he stopped at the metal door of the lab, allowing his biometrics to be scanned for entry._

 

_“Sorry, sir,” Adam muttered in response._

 

_The door slid open with a hiss, showing the large laboratory set up. Rows of pods lined the wall, murky figures floating in each one while dozens of white-coated scientists rushed around. Lex’s focus drew in on one silver-haired man wearing mechanics googles, staring up at a pod while typing on his tablet. Lex stepped out on the raised platform above it all, speaking clearly to those below._

 

_“Dabney Donovan,” he called, grabbing the goggled scientist’s attention as he turned to face him._

 

_“How’s my hard earned money being spent?”_

 

_“Lex,” the man acknowledged, before showcasing the room with his hand. “Why it’s all in front of you. Every penny.”_

 

_Lex nodded, before moving to walk down._

 

_“I’ll stay here,” Adam said with an edge of uncertainty in his voice.“I don’t do crazy very well.”_

 

_Lex resisted the urge to scowl, feeling a wave of disappointment. Years later and the agent still had the air of fear around him. It had served Lex’s purposes well before, Adam proving easy to manipulate with the right prodding in any given direction. But now it just reinforced how much the agent was lacking, even given his abilities._

 

_“It might just be enough to tip you,” Lex responded, practically feeling the unease from the agent as he turned his back to the lab._

 

_The bald man walked languidly towards his chief scientist, eyeing the pods with cold detachment. Lex had always been a patient man, but even he had been worn down by the years of trial and error when it came to their abilities to harness the full potential of humanity. Cadmus had strayed from its original mission under the direction of his mother. Lillian was far to consumed with revenge to see the bigger picture and it’s potential. The expulsion of aliens always took the backseat to reach humanities full potential._

 

_But it was of little consequence now. Lex’s long game was finally coming into play and things were proceeding as planned. There had been setbacks, a near decade's worth._

 

_But Lex was a patient man._

 

_“Still carrying the gun?” He asked Dabney once they stood shoulder to shoulder, noting the heavy sidearm strapped to the man’s side._

 

_“Oh yes,” the man said in his usual soft, crooning voice._

 

_He reached forward, tracing the glass of the pod he had been studying._

 

_“You never know when one of my babies may break out,” he said reverently. “They get… confused.”_

 

_Lex eyed the tumour-ridden creature floating in the blue liquid, unimpressed as it responded to electrical pulses being sent to it’s muscles._

 

_Three eyes blinked down at him._

 

_“Any progress?” He asked._

 

_The man turned from the pod with a frown._

 

_“Hit or miss, as ever. I expect to have more obedient samples soon… very soon.”_

 

_Lex fought the suppress the swell of rage he felt. He had been more than patient with the man, recognising the brilliance of the scientist. He, more than most, was dedicated to Cadmus and it’s mission. The boundaries of genetics weren’t something he concerned himself within his goal for a better humanity._

 

_But the green-eyed man couldn’t help but find his almost lustful infatuation with his creations, and their continual failure._

 

_“I don’t want samples,” he barked. “I want an army.”_

 

_The doctor’s eyes glanced to Adam, still waiting on the platform with his back turned._

 

_“I’d have thought your pet soldier would be enough to placate you.”_

 

_Lex’s eyes narrowed._

 

_“Adam is strong,” he conceded. “But I need stronger for what we have planned.”_

 

_The man looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the failed attempts still waiting in their pods and waiting to be purged._

 

_“Is that why he never comes down here?”_

 

_“I hate to repeat myself, Dabney,” Lex bit out in reply. “What progress have you made?”_

 

_The scientist sighed._

 

_“It’s difficult replicating DNA. I need a more durable code-“_

 

_Lex knew exactly what they needed, but he still expected a little more progress from his top gun._

 

_“We’ve got eyes on him, Dabney,” he replied. “Count your chickens.”_

 

_The man frowned but didn’t otherwise respond._

 

_Lex turned around the room, his eyes drawing on the pod that had received the most care over the past year. He walked towards it and this time he was the one to trace the glass while he eyed the figure floating within._

 

_“What about this one?” He asked. “It was to be the prototype.”_

 

_Dabney stepped to his side, another proud smile growing on his face._

 

_“It’s still growing.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LET ME KNOW, WHAT YOU THINK :D I LOVE TO READ YOUR COMMENTS AND ANSWER TO YOU ALL!
> 
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> 
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> 
> AND KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MY RESPONSE :D


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP THE PRESS EVERYONE! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?
> 
> I have the most fabulous news. Your prays have been answered, humans and aliens. No longer will you have to endure my horrendously horrible dyslexic editing.
> 
> *sigh* I did my best.
> 
> Because, as of this chapter (everyone get excited) I OFFICIALLY have a beta reader!!!!!!
> 
> Now, a simple request. If you do comment, which I love, it would be awesome if you gave a shoutout to Satanstaco. They are going to need the love because together we need force…. encourage them to please, please, please continue to help.
> 
> i.e Don’t praise me, all on them 
> 
> And you, of course, my lovely readers.
> 
> Now, onwards!

Liam sat on the chair that seemed to have taken up a permanent spot across from the med bay. He cast his mind back, trying to recall when that happened.

 

Probably around the time, his mom decided that she wasn’t going to wait for news about whatever injury Supergirl had sustained that week.

 

His foot bounced up and down like machine gun, watching as Kara sat next to his bed-bound sister in the infirmary. His other mother, sitting next to him and watching the same scene with a contemplative look, turned to eye his bouncing leg and rested a hand on it to stop the action.

 

“Don’t you be next,” she whispered.

 

Liam blinked at her, confused.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

The CEO let out a sigh, and her son was struck by the realization that his Mom was getting older. Soft lines had formed around her mouth, more from frowning than from smiling and that made Liam want to cry.

 

He once again chastised himself for his suddenly weepy tendencies as of late.

 

Lena looked over at her ex-wife and daughter with a frown.

 

“Your mother, then your sister almost dying… again,” she muttered, before turning back to look at him with her own eyes shining with unshed tears.

 

“My heart’s had enough.”

 

For as long as Liam had been alive, his mom had been the iron will in the family. Ma may have had superpowers, but his mom was the anchor and the sail that kept them all going. She was the centre of their small unit, and also in a way, their larger extended family as well. Whenever there was a problem, people went to Lena. Whether it be business, DEO, or family. His mom was a ‘fixer’. She had always seemed to weather it well, behind a fair facade that never cracked. Even when he was sick, all those years, she was the one who never gave up.

 

Ever.

 

How had he missed the moment she had? The moment, when he was gone that everything… that the last of her strength had finally worn away and all that was left was a battered woman, limping out of a war she never wanted to fight in.

 

That guilty feeling began to creep up his chest again. He should have been here. He should have been here for all of his family, the way they’d been there for him until he fucked up so badly that he’d lost all their trust.

 

Liam’s eyes flickered to his Ma, who was still talking to his sister in the infirmary.

 

Some people’s trust was lost earlier than others.

 

“Technically,” he began in a light-hearted voice, trying to steer the conversation into a slightly more jovial direction. “You already had a death scare with me. Gone for ten years, remember?”

 

He winced as soon as he said it, his mother looking at him with old eyes that bore the weight of years of loneliness.

 

“How could I forget?”

 

The dark-haired man reached out, took her delicate hand in his own and gave it a squeeze.

 

“I’m not going anywhere Mom,” he said lowly, meaning it with every fibre of his being.

 

Liam was never going to abandon his family again.

 

Before any more could be said, the door to the med bay opened with a hiss and Kara walked towards them, her step faltering slightly when her eyes flickered to Lena’s.

 

Liam frowned at that, also noting that his usually stoic brunette mother had looked down at the floor the second his ma had opened the door. Kara recovered quickly, giving them both an over-enthusiastic smile.

 

Clearly overcompensating for something.

 

“She’s going to be fine,” Kara said, speaking more to Liam and Lena’s general direction, than the brunette herself. “Alex has her under the sun lamps, so no doubt she’ll be flying around tomorrow.”

 

Lena let out another breath.

 

“Why do none of you understand the concept of ‘taking it easy’?” she questioned, already knowing the answer.

 

Kara frowned at the tired voice and hesitated, before placing her hand on the brunette’s shoulder.

 

Lena instantly looked up, her eyes enthused with new life as if the gesture had suddenly energised her.

 

“You never would’ve married me if you weren’t up for a little danger,” the blonde said with a lopsided, and much more believable, smile.

 

Lena beamed back and Liam’s confusion grew tenfold. He was about to say something when his Aunt Maggie turned up at Kara’s elbow and left him wondering, not for the first time if the policewoman could teleport into the most inconvenient moments in the history of time and space.

 

“True,” she said with a laugh, looking at Lena. “You’re an adrenaline junkie, just like the rest of us.”

 

The brunette CEO sniffed, her mood dimming the second Kara’s hand dropped from her shoulder.

 

Everyone in the group, apart from the blonde hero whose eyes were now fixated on a spot in a far corner, followed the movement.

 

“Nobody asked for your opinion, Detective,” Lena answered, with only a slight hint of bite in her tone. “What are you even doing here anyway?”

 

Maggie gave her an affronted look, holding out a bouquet of plumerias.

 

Kara and Lena both made quick eye contact, before looking away once more.

 

Liam’s frown deepened.

 

“I came to visit my niece, like any good aunt,” Maggie answered, a sparkle of mirth in her eyes. And I brought flowers!”

 

Kara eyed her suspiciously.

 

“You seem to be here more than at the station, no wonder they never promoted you,” the blonde replied, in a teasing voice. “Do you still even have a job, Sawyer?”

 

Maggie took a dramatic step back which immediately made Liam snort.

 

He covered it up with a cough when Kara gave him a dirty look.

 

“Oh, I see how it is,” the officer said knowingly, gesturing between Kara and Lena. “Now that you two are getting it on, both of you think that you can take me on as you did back in the old days? Liam, please remind your mothers how I _soundly_ beat them both _every_ time we had a game night?”

 

She shot him a wink, while his mothers both spluttered.

 

A long-suffering sigh sounded next, coming from Alex as she appeared next to her wife.

 

“That’s only because they spent the whole time kissing instead of focusing on what they were doing.”

 

“My darling wife, you’ve betrayed me!” Maggie cried, wiping away a mimed tear while Kara and Lena both blushed from head to toe. “Devaluing my winning streak! Why must all of you attack little old me?”

 

Now it was time for Liam to roll his eyes.

 

“Little old you?” He chortled with amusement. “You were the one sneaking me BBQ ribs when I was in the ward and even though you _knew_ I wasn’t allowed.”

 

Maggie paled as Lena’s eyes turned to her furiously. The entire time Liam had been in the hospital she had insisted that he eat the healthiest, most immune boosting foods possible, and it was a constant source of irritation when she would enter her son’s hospital room and find his face smeared with sticky sauce. She’d spend two years interrogating nurses and family members until she finally gave up.

 

“That was you?!”

 

Maggie narrowed her eyes at Liam.

 

“Liam, you’re a traitor,” she said flatly, but before anyone could respond she took half a step backwards with her hands raised. “But I can see now, that I’ve intruded on a tender family moment.”

 

The short woman began to walk away before a scheming look grew in her eyes.

 

“On that note, Big Belly Burger has a sale on a forty-eight pack of buffalo wings,” she said slyly, noting how both Kara and Liam’s faces lit up with delight. “Liam why don’t you take your mothers to dinner for once as a proper gentleman while I keep Kia company.”

 

She turned to her wife.

 

"Come on Alex.”

 

She didn’t wait for a response before she began to drag a protesting Alex away.

 

Kara and Lena both gawked after her, before looking at each other nervously.

 

“You don’t have to-“

 

“I wouldn’t want to impose-“

 

Liam’s annoyance at their strange behaviour interrupted both of their ramblings.

 

“Jesus, what is with you two?” He questioned. “You’ve been all weird this entire time. It’s just dinner for God’s sake.”

 

His blonde mother turned her gaze from her ex-wife and gave her son an appalled look.

 

“My son? Devaluing the importance of food?” She questioned with horror, before turning an accusing look on her ex-wife. “What have you been teaching him in that Luthor house of yours, Lena?”

 

The brunette stood to her feet, shouldering her handbag.

 

“Mostly how to use a knife and fork,” she said dryly. “He inherited _your_ table manners.”

 

Kara was about to respond when Liam interrupted with a wave of his hand.

 

“Ladies, ladies…. no need to fight,” he said, giving them both a ridiculous half bow before holding out his hands for them to take.  “I have two arms, ready to escort both of you to dinner, which I’m paying for by the way,” he said seriously, eyeing Lena with suspicion. “So don’t you whip out your credit card _Mom_.”

 

Lena looked affronted.

 

“I would-“

 

Her son interrupted her, turning to look at Kara.

 

“Want to see who can eat the most wings, Ma?”

 

She smiled in response.

 

“You read my mind.”

 

* * *

 

_Liam hated his mother’s galas. Mostly because for the past near-decade they’ve all been about raising money for a cure to cancer. Even though his Mom was spending millions of dollars of her own money, pouring it into L-Corp’s cancer research to keep the company in the black. Also desperate for every other pharmaceutical based companies on Earth to do the same._

 

_Anything, everything to find a cure._

 

_When Liam had been well enough, or during his remission, he sat in the farthest corner he could find and tried to hide. Away from the stares and whispers. That he was the ‘sickly’ child._

 

_That he was the one they were all doing this for.The purpose behind their investment._

 

_The worse thing of all was that his mother was fighting a futile battle._

 

_Liam was beyond saving._

 

_But this year was the first time he was attending a gala and was officially cured. A single injection and he was snapped up from the jaws of death._

 

_A miracle…._

 

_Everyone was so happy, his family was so happy and when his mothers had hugged him, all three of them had floated an inch off the floor in Kara’s exuberance. Liam knew he should be happy too, but he just wasn’t._

 

_He had prepared himself mentally to die. So much of his life had revolved around being sick, that now, he literally had nothing. Lena had told him that now he would finally be able to live the life he had always deserved, able to live it to its full potential, but her actions spoke differently._

 

_She still hovered and watched him like he was going to shatter into a million pieces any minute, that the cure would suddenly not work anymore even though every cancer patient in his hospital ward was eagerly waiting to get their hands on it after seeing the wonders it had done to Liam’s body._

 

_The only way he had been able to get it before it went through human trials was because he was Lena Luthor’s son._

 

_And no son of a Luthor, or Supergirl, was going to wait for FDA approval._

 

_But then, since he had been the test case… unfortunately, he had become the poster boy for the ‘cure for cancer’._

 

_For the ‘miracle drug’ that made him being alive at all… a miracle._

 

_Physically, he felt better than ever._

 

_His scrawny, tiny frame had seemingly filled out overnight. It was like puberty hit him over the head and he was growing taller with every minute. Liam could run again, he could learn judo from Aunt Alex (hidden from Lena’s knowledge), and go back to school, something he had been unable to do for many years. Instead, being homeschooled almost entirely by his parents when they had time._

 

_But Liam hated high school._

 

_Once again, he was the sick kid, the different kid, the weird kid._

 

_The rich son of a Luthor, brother to the most popular girl in school and unable to so much as string a sentence together when he awkwardly tried to make friends. He wasn’t good with kids his own age. He had spent more time around adults with superpowers and super brains that worked for super organisations than high schoolers... unless they were kids that were sick and also had a lingering morbid humour even on their good days._

 

_Nothing fostered dry wit and sarcasm quite like cancer._

 

_Frankly, his new life just made him feel more empty and depressed than he ever had before._

 

_Liam was contemplating hiding underneath a table after a third random old woman had gushed over him when his mother approached with a tall, silver-haired man and another boy._

 

_“There you are,” Lena called out, smiling. “Liam, I’d like you to meet Dallas Everett, the owner of Apollo Industries. He was the mastermind behind the cure.”_

 

_Dallas reached out with a large hand, shaking Liam’s limp one with a grin._

 

_“Well, we over at Apollo, like to think of it more as a… vaccine,” the man smiled, his eyes sparkling._

 

_Liam felt his own awkwardness growing and he fumbled for a response._

 

_“Well… thanks for… you know…. Otherwise, I’d be rotting away happily,” he mumbled out between his teeth._

 

_“Don’t joke about that,” Lena chastised, making Liam’s annoyance with the whole night spike higher._

 

_How is it that his sister and mother had managed to get out of this stupid thing? Ma had said she was on patrol duty and Kia was busy ‘studying’ for her SAT’s, which really meant she was sucking face with Rebecca._

 

_“I’m sorry about my son, Mr. Everett,” his mother continued. “He is going through a phase where he thinks sarcasm is the highest form of wit.”_

 

_The man smiled widely._

 

_“Don’t I know it, full well,” he replied, before gesturing for the boy next to him whose eyes were locked on Liam’s, to step forward._

 

_“This is my son, Tristan,”_

 

_The boy held out his own hand for Liam to take, and for the first time during the conversation, the green-eyed boy actually looked at him._

 

_He was stunning, enough to halt Liam’s breath. Tall and broad, even though he looked to be only a little bit older than the dark-haired boy. He had the bluest eyes Liam had ever seen and golden hair light enough to give him an ethereal look._

 

_Liam shook his hand, and desperately tried to think of something normal to say so he didn’t come off as the biggest idiot on the planet._

 

_“I’m… I’m….” he stuttered out, the other boy smiling gently at him._

 

_“Liam Luthor, yeah I know.”_

 

_Even his voice was attractive enough to make Liam almost swoon._

 

_The dark-haired boy gulped._

 

_“You’re gorgeous,” he blurted out, his ears immediately turning red when the other boy’s smile widened and his mother stifled a snort._

 

_“Why don’t we go over to the Wayne Enterprise Executives and discuss production, Dallas,” Lena said, still half giggling. “Leave these two to have a conversation with someone their own age?”_

 

_The man nodded._

 

_“Yes, I’d like to get a measure on that new CEO anyway. See if he really can fill his father’s boots. I’ll find you later, Tristan.”_

 

_The blonde boy nodded, his eyes never leaving Liam’s face even as their parents walked off._

 

_The black haired boy shuffled on his feet under Tristan’s intense gaze._

 

_“So… Liam Luthor…. You’re a bit of a mystery, don’t you know?”_

 

_Liam looked up at the other boy, confused._

 

_“I am?”_

 

_“Sure,” the blonde answered. “Among National City’s junior elite, you’re pretty much the only topic of conversation. Hidden away from the rest of the world inside a fishbowl, surviving cancer…. and a Luthor to boot. You’re like our very own legend. We were all starting to wonder if you actually existed.”_

 

_He said it jokingly, but it still made Liam frown in remembrance of how little a life he actually had._

 

_“National City has a junior elite?” he asked._

 

_“Of course!” Tristan called, winking at Liam. “Who else do you think comes up with plans for world domination to give out to our parents?”_

 

_The dark-haired boy flushed._

 

_“That sounds…. fascinating,” he said awkwardly._

 

_The other boy’s friendly face didn’t falter at all._

 

_“You should come by next time we hang out!” He said enthusiastically. “It’s about time someone interesting came.”_

 

_Liam’s mood plummeted at the other boy’s words and he gave him a fierce scowl._

 

_“I suppose I’m ‘interesting’ because I’m the miracle boy,” he replied sarcastically. “You know, cancer isn’t like The Fault in Our Stars. I didn’t find my romance of a lifetime while a tube was stuck down my nose and I was puking my guts out.”_

 

_Instead of turning the other boy off, Tristan’s eyes grew more intrigued by every word Liam uttered._

 

_“I dunno,” he said softly. “Sounds like a pretty attractive picture to me. Means you’re a survivor.”_

 

_Liam blinked, suddenly feeling like he had completely lost his bearings during this conversation._

 

_“The only reason I’m alive at all is because your Dad made a cure,” he muttered out, looking down at his toes._

 

_“I’m nobody special.”_

 

_He felt Tristan’s cool finger press against the bottom of his chin, tilting his face so that he could stare, riveted, into the taller boy’s pale blue eyes._

 

_“Now, I know that’s not true,” the boy replied quietly, half purring out his response._

 

_Liam felt a flood of longing fill his chest and he tried to desperately squash it, pushing Tristan’s hand away, even though he didn’t want to._

 

_“You don’t know me.”_

 

_The blonde winked at him again, giving him a sultry smirk that made Liam even more attracted to him._

 

_“Not yet,” he purred. “But I’d really like to find out.”_

 

_Liam just stared when the other boy suddenly looked around the ballroom and all its people with a disdainful look._

 

_“Hey, you wanna get out of here?” he suddenly asked distractedly._

 

_Liam bit his lip, his eyes flickering to his mother who was still standing with Mr. Everett, talking to Damian Wayne and laughing at something he had said._

 

_“Oh… I can’t… my mom-”_

 

_The other boy cut him off with a laugh, waving a hand to dismiss his fears._

 

_“Ah, who cares? What good is it being born with a silver spoon up your butt if you can’t play hooky from the dumb parties our parents make us go to?”_

 

_He stared at Liam, his eyes full of daring as he leaned in._

 

_“Don’t you want to live a little.”_

 

_Yes, Liam thought. More than anything in the entire world. I just want to live and… breathe._

 

_“We’ll get into so much trouble….” he responded half-heartedly, his resolves crumbling under Tristan’s intense gaze._

 

_The other boy cupped a hand over his mouth as if he was telling Liam a secret._

 

_“Only if we get caught.”_

 

_Liam struggled not to smile._

 

_“I don’t even know you…”_

 

_Tristan shrugged._

 

_“All you need to know is that I think you’re smart, hot, and the most interesting person in here, all with the added bonus of being as bored as I am.”_

 

_Liam’s hair stood on end._

 

_Tristan, who looked like the Greek gods had carved him from marble, thought he looked hot? That he was interesting?_

 

_“Come on,” the blonde boy said with a pout. “I’ll teach you how to ride my motorbike.”_

 

_The dark-haired boy's eyes widened._

 

_“You have a bike?” He said excitedly._

 

_Tristan smiled, knowing he had won._

 

_“Ducati.”_

 

_Liam didn’t hesitate, grabbing the other boy’s hand and all but dragging him towards the exit._

 

_“Let’s go.”_

 

* * *

Kia turned her head when the door hissed open and spotted her aunt walking in with her usual smile, holding a clutch of plumerias in her hand.

 

The hero arched her eyebrow at her aunt’s particular flower choice, knowing full well that Maggie had only chosen them to get a reaction out of both of her parents. She’d never cared for flowers personally, they reminded her far too much of hospital visits to Rebecca and Liam when he was a kid.

 

After placing the bouquet on her bedside table, Maggie pulled up a stool and sat down.

 

“You seem to be in a really good mood for someone who died.”

 

A smile stretched across Kia’s face.

 

“Well, what can I say. It’s a brand new life,” she said optimistically.

 

Maggie nodded.

 

“Or maybe,” she began casually. “It’s because, for the first time in ten years, you don’t look like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

 

The blonde rolled her eyes.

 

“Gee, thanks,” she said dryly.

 

“I’m serious!” the detective exclaimed.

 

“It was like a version of Kara with all the moroseness she pushes deep, deep down,” Maggie said, raising her hand below her knees, before raising it above her head. ”Mixed with a version of Lena, who’s moroseness is way, way up.”

 

Kia huffed, her irritation rising the same way her aunt’s had.

 

“Ok, I get the message, Maggie.”

 

Her aunt clearly hadn’t.

 

“I’m just saying-“

 

Kia stopped her with a snap.

 

“No, you’re prodding,” she said flatly. “Again. Just like you’ve been doing for the past ten years. It’s what you always do. You see a scab on a wound and you just have to tear it off in your own, special Maggie way.”

 

The other woman didn’t react to her words. Instead, she just remained annoyingly calm as per usual.

 

“What way is that?”

 

“Oh, you know exactly what I mean,” Kia mocked, sick of Maggie’s probing questions and attempts for her to open up.

 

“You did it to Auntie Alex when you ‘suggested’ that she might be a lesbian. Then you did it to my Mom when you told her that you got Mama drunk and all she did was talk about her. Then you did it again when you ‘intimated’ that I should “lock that shit down” before Becs went to college.”

 

The other woman’s eyebrows hit her hairline.

 

“Well, firstly,” she replied, unusually caustic. “If I hadn’t ‘suggested’ that my wife might swing for the hygiene conscious team, she might still be faking orgasms with weirdly macho men instead of having marathon sex with me every goddamn Sunday.”

 

Kia face curled with mortification.

 

“Ok, I didn’t need to hear that.”

 

The dimpled woman continued, ignoring her niece.

 

“Secondly, I’d had enough of watching both of your parents dance around each other trying to pretend they didn’t like each other. It was bloody annoying. Do you have any idea what it’s like to see two people you love dearly, who have chemistry coming out of their asses, not just bite the bullet and say they like each other a bit more than the average ‘gal pal’?”

 

Maggie seemed to grow annoyed even thinking about it.

 

“Given how obtuse Kara was being about the whole thing, it would’ve have gotten to the point where they were making out on the couch and she’d still say they were “best friends”. Plus, if I hadn’t interfered, you might not be here to complain to me.”

 

Kia frowned, but begrudgingly accepted her aunt’s words. Both of her parents, who were so confident in other aspects of their life, had the tendency to try not to offend each other. Even now, years into their marriage.

 

“Well, maybe you’ve got a point there,” she mumbled.

 

“And finally,” Maggie said tartly. “ _You_ can’t seriously be telling me that you’re mad that I encouraged you to ask Bec to marry you. I knew you were a “player” in high school, but that girl was the best thing that ever happened to you, and your gay ass was already packing the U-Haul the second she smiled in your direction.”

 

Kia flushed, remembering how Rebecca had been the first girl that threw her off balance.

 

“Well I’m not angry at myself, am I?” she muttered out, daring Maggie to contradict her.

 

Her aunt snorted.

 

“Yes, you are.”

 

The blonde’s face darkened and her eyes flashed with pain.

 

“Don’t tell me what I feel Maggie,” she cracked back with rage.

 

Her aunt refused to be intimidated by someone whose nappies she used to change.

 

“Nope, you started this,” she said plainly. “So now I get to say my piece and you can’t run away. And bonus for me, you’re sober.”

 

Kia looked down at her sheets, her newfound shame fighting with her instinct to flee the situation.

 

Her aunt let out a sigh, tone softening.

 

“I know you’ve pushed down your feelings for the last decade,” she said gently. “Covering them up in piles of bullshit. But the fact is you’ve been self-destructing for nearly a third of your life, kid. It hasn’t been pretty to the rest of us that love you.”

 

A lump grew in Kia’s throat and she closed her eyes at the painful memories of the past decade.

 

“What do you want me to say?” She choked out, opening her eyes to look at the detective. “That the past few months have made me feel more alive than I can remember being? That even as I’m lying here… even though I’m still so fucking sad, I’m actually hopeful? That the world finally seems a little bit brighter? What do you want me to tell you?”

 

Her voice had grown shrill, still scrabbling for some ability to keep her feelings from the rest of the world.

 

Maggie didn’t even blink.

 

“Tell me the truth.”

 

At that, Kia scoffed.

 

The truth? What was the truth?

 

How could she possibly explain how she felt? When Kia was younger, she had thought she knew exactly who she was. Confident, her parent’s daughter, Kryptonian as much as a human.

 

Someone loved who she was the same way she loved Rebecca.

 

More than anything in the entire world.

 

But then everything, quite literally, had blown up.

 

She didn’t know who she was, and it made her feel like she was being dishonest with everyone around her, particularly her Ma. She felt like a fake person, like she wasn’t real anymore. It was confusing and it made her angry at herself and the world around her for making her that way. Kia had drowned her feelings and retreated into herself, performing in her own life as if she was just an actress.

 

But things had finally begun to bleed into each other during the past few months. Kia was finally starting to remember who she used to be. She was figuring out who she was now and who she wanted to be in the future.

 

But it was still so damn confusing, and for the first time in a decade, she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

 

“I’m angry, ok?” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.  “I’m angry at myself because I still love Rebecca so much and I’m angry that my relationship with my brother is so screwed up and has been nearly our entire lives.”

 

She bit her own cheek to stop herself from outright sobbing in front of her aunt.

 

“I’m _furious_ that my mothers are divorced and are clearly in fucking agony over it. I’m angry that Cadmus and their anti-alien bullshit is the reason that all of this ever happened. But most of all, I’m angry at myself for finally…. finally feeling happy again.”

 

And that was the crux of it, Kia wasn’t even sure she deserved to be happy anymore. She felt guilty for not going to sleep to nightmares of digging through the rubble to find survivors. Of clutching Bec’s lifeless body to her own. Of flying her to the DEO as fast as she could, even though she had died hours before.

 

She was scared that her anger, the thing that she had built her entire life on for years, was slipping away from her.

 

Kia was angry at herself for not being angry enough.  

 

“I’m so happy because my parents found each other and for as long as they were together it was fucking inspiring. I’m happy that Mama looks like the sun again and Mom has returned to the land of the living.”

 

Kia could no longer hold back her tears and they began to pour down her cheeks, and she turned her head to try and hide their existence from Maggie.

 

“I’m happy that I can look at her and not feel angry. I’m happy that for once I feel like something clicked with Liam. I saw him today and it was like…. _there you are_. The little kid who I used to dress in Mom’s heels and make catwalk down the hall for me. The brother I always wanted but didn’t think I needed. That when he looked at me without resentment, mine towards him disappeared. That he saved my life.”

 

Her thoughts flashed away from her brother and a new image of the first time Nina had found her slumped over the bar grew in her mind.

 

“But most of all, I’m fucking happy because, for the first time, I’m starting to see the fuzzy outlines of a future where I can end up with someone besides Becs.”

 

She cried quietly after that, exhausted at unloading her true feelings at last. Maggie gave her space, not saying a word but reaching over to give her shoulder a tight squeeze.

 

It was only after Kia’s sobs had been reduced to sniffles, that the detective began to speak in a casual voice.

 

“Where is young Nina actually? I haven’t seen her since I arrived?”

 

Kia’s murky thoughts disappeared.

 

“Wait… you know?”

 

Maggie gave her a knowing look, the corner of her mouth tilting up.

 

“Of course I know, kid. I’ve still got mad gaydar skills,” she said, overly smug and tapping the side of her head. “Fully operational, if slightly untested these days since everyone decided they prefer life outside of the closet.”

 

She sounded slightly disgruntled at that, and Kia couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Though, if I hadn’t intervened, your Mama would still think it was normal for a girl to fill her office with her favourite flowers,” Maggie said, getting distracted in her own exasperation at Kara’s past actions again and facepalming. “Honestly, she might as well bought the building across from Kara’s window and stuck a gigantic neon sign with the words ‘I want to tear off your clothes, will you let me?’ I mean come on-”

 

Kia couldn’t help but laugh deeply and failed to miss the gratified glint in her aunt’s eyes at making her feel better.

 

“How are you still worked up about that?” The blonde questioned.

 

Maggie threw her arms up in the air dramatically.

 

“One, I’m still pissed you’re doubting the _one hundred per cent_ success rate of my prodding. And two, I wanted to make you feel better after that bucket of emotions you’ve been riding was finally unleashed. Feel better?”

 

The detective tilted her head, watching as Kia deep dived into her own heart and encountered a feeling of lightness that she had long thought lost.

 

“Yeah… I…. yeah,” she replied quietly.

 

Maggie looked ready to reply but bit her lip when her eyes caught the sight of her wife stalking furiously towards the med bay, glaring at her.

 

She stood to her feet quickly.

 

“Well, good,” she said fast. “Now I’m gonna head out before Alex, whom I successfully handheld into the fantastic world of lesbianism, comes in and yells at us because you should be resting.

 

Maggie moved to walk away, but couldn’t help herself and waggled her eyebrows at Kia.

 

“Even though you clearly want to daydream about a certain someone.”

 

Kia flushed.

 

“Stop teasing me, auntie.”

 

The detective’s smile wavered for a second, wincing slightly as she recalled something.

 

“I have to ask before I go… does Liam know you like her? Does Nina?”

 

Kia thumbed her ID tag.

 

“Yes… and no,” she dragged out. “But I think she’s starting to question herself. She asked me before, how I knew I was gay.”

 

Maggie nodded, getting lost in thought for a few seconds.

 

“Well… this is going to be interesting.”

 

The door hissed open and the detective held up her hands in a placating gesture while Alex gave her an enraged look.

 

“Maggie,” the redhead hissed out. “I swear to God if you don’t let her rest I’m going to-“

 

“What?” Maggie interrupted with her sweetest smile. “Love me, feed me… never leave me?”

 

Alex’s frown wavered, as it always did when Maggie smiled in her direction.

 

“If I wasn’t convinced you’d get custody of the cat, I’d divorce you right now,” she muttered, only half-joking.

 

Maggie disregarded her words.

 

“Pff… we haven’t even gotten to the ‘lesbian bed death’ part of our relationship my sweet and noble wife. No way you’re divorcing me when I’ve still got all of my _legendary_ moves.”

 

Kia groaned and Alex’s cheeks flushed.

 

“Get out of my infirmary,” she said flatly, running out of patience for her wife’s nonsense that had grown every passing year that she had known her “,Now.”

 

Maggie let out a dramatic sigh and gave her infuriated wife a mock salute.

 

“Alright, keep your hair on,” she muttered, before turning to wink at her niece. “Kia, I shall talk to you later…. I’m going to find Nina and do a bit of… prodding.”

 

She all but ran out then, dragging Alex behind her while Kia yelled from her bed.

 

“Don’t you dare!”

 

The door hissed closed behind her and Maggie let out a laugh, even as her wife groaned with years of exhaustion.

 

“Maggie, can’t you just stay out of someone else’s business for five minutes?” She questioned futilely, already knowing the answer.

 

The dimpled woman reached over to take Alex’s hand in hers, lacing their fingers and lifting it so she could press a quick kiss to the back of her palm.

 

“But if I did,” she murmured quietly, her eyes sparkling. “I never would have kissed that hot redheaded agent with the great ass when I met her.”

 

Her wife bit her lip.

 

“Hey! I still have a great ass,” she protested.

 

Maggie rested her hands on either side of Alex’s hips, not caring as ever for the DEO’s professional conduct, and pulled her wife in for a quick kiss.

 

“That you do, babe.”

  


* * *

  
  
Lena swirled a glass of wine around in her hand as she looked outside, through the new picture windows that had been installed last week. The old place she had bought was slowly coming together. In reality, all the renovations could have been done with a snap of her fingers, considering all Luthor’s seemed to have more money than sense.

 

But there was still something immensely satisfying about doing the work herself, or rather, making Liam do the work with many complaints and at a slower pace than she would have liked. It reminded her of the first apartment she and Kara had moved into. She had been the one protesting then, but her then-girlfriend had insisted that they do it themselves and at a dreary human pace.

 

_“It’ll help us bond as a couple!”_

 

_“How does me getting paint in my hair help us bond as a couple?”_

 

_“It will if I help wash it out later.”_

 

_“….fine”._

 

It was easy to get lost in the good memories now, even though they had brought up other painful feelings that Lena had managed to box up in her mind. She had never intended to profess her continued pining for her ex-wife to anyone, let alone Kara herself. A part of her was relieved when the blonde had been the one to halt her in her tracks.

 

It had always been Kara chasing Lena for their entire relationship, but not this time.

 

A large part of her was profusely embarrassed. There had been a reason she hadn’t delved into the pit that contained her most forbidden desires. Namely, indicating at all that she wanted Kara more than anyone should want another human being.

 

“Do you think I’d make a good father?”

 

Lena looked at her son sitting next to her, also staring out the window brooding.

 

It was funny, growing up Liam had always looked more like her and Kia like Kara. In reality, though, she actually thought she was more like her daughter in temperament. All of them had a tendency to flee from feelings, in a way that Kara never had, but her daughter had learned, just like Lena, to erect walls that weren’t easily surmountable.

 

But Liam had always worn his heart on his sleeve. Every emotion he experienced was in its most extreme form and the whole world couldn’t help but know about it. Perhaps the real reason that everyone had been turned on their heads for the past few months, wasn’t just because Liam had returned. But rather his very presence, as an emotional tornado, incited extreme reactions in everyone around him as well.

 

“Is there something you haven’t told me?” Lena suddenly asked, slightly panicked. “Oh God, I don’t have to track some poor girl down, do I?”

 

Liam turned to look at her, his eyes still lost in thought but his mouth turned up slightly at the corners.

 

“No, nothing like that. I just… I’ve been thinking a lot about the future, my future.”

 

He scratched the back of his neck, his eyes once again turning to look out the window.

 

"Everything for the past decade has been life or death for me,” he muttered out. “Hell, even when I was a kid we never knew if I was going to cark it any minute.”

 

The memory of that time still managed to send a shard of panic right down to the centre of her soul.

 

“Every day of my life could have been my last,” her boy continued. “And now with all this Cadmus stuff I just… Ma and Kia almost dying as well…”

 

He turned back to look at her, and Lena could see the despair in his eyes.

 

“I just… I want to see a future after this” he confessed. “A future for me and it’s just so hard to…. I don’t know what I would do. Apparently, the only thing I’m good at is shooting people and delivering mail-“

 

Lena cut him off, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“You haven’t turned up for work for the last few months, Liam. Bob has been very relieved.”

 

It seemed to have the opposite effect, making Liam looked even more upset.

 

“So apparently I’m not good at that either. What happens, if all this does end… Where will I be?”

 

Liam sounded so completely lost, and for one of the few times in her life, Lena didn’t have an answer. It wasn’t like she wanted him to continue down a path filled with more blood, pain and sadness. All the while, flirting with death. She’d never wanted anyone in her family to do that.

 

But that was who they are.

 

“You could keep working for the DEO.”

 

He picked up on her fraught tone.

 

“You sound _so_ enthusiastic about that.”

 

Lena shrugged, unable to lie about her feelings on this.

 

“If I had it my way, Liam. None of you would be working for the DEO. You’d all be encased in bubble wrap.”

 

Liam let out a bark of laughter.

 

“We’re far too stubborn for that.”

 

Lena played with her watch.

 

“You could go back to school. Get a degree?” She suggested.

 

His mouth pinched.

 

“In what?” Liam questioned bitterly. “I was never the brightest and doesn’t that all seem a bit… trivial. Compared to the grandness that is this life…”

 

The dark-haired man gestured around the room, and Lena’s eyes drifted to the growing collection of photographs she had painstakingly chosen to place on her mantle.

 

Some old, most of her family when they had been young. Photos of Liam when he was a toddler, and ones that had been taken when he was in remission. Kia at swim meets, where she had to be told to slow down and a photo of her graduating high school.

 

Photos of her and Kara, her favourite a candid one taken by Maggie one morning they had her and Alex around for brunch. She had been pregnant with Kia then, still in the first trimester before Kia’s strength had become too much for her.

 

Kara had an ear pressed to her belly, even though she could perfectly well hear the foetus from across the city. Lena was laughing, with her hand in the blonde’s hair and was looking down at her with such tenderness, that made Lena now almost tear up every time she looked at it.

 

There was a gap, a decades worth of photos missing before tentative ones began again.

 

A few recent, one of Liam with a bucket on his head that Kia had shoved there the one time she had agreed to help lift the new kitchen counters. Her daughter and her son were still edgy around each other but were getting along as long as she had her eyes on them.

 

There were some with Liam and her at the park, one selfie of her and Kia that her daughter invited they take during one of their lunches.

 

And there was one photo, taken tonight and still on her phone and would be taking its place there soon.

 

Liam had asked a bored minimum wage teenager at Big Belly Burger to take it tonight. Kara and him both sitting with an impressive amount of chicken wings in front of them, already eaten, and covered in sauce, laughing while Lena looked on with disgust.

 

It didn’t showcase any of them well, but they all looked happy to be there.

 

“Being who you are, a Luthor and a Zor-El,” Lena finally said, drawing her son’s attention. “It comes with privileges and responsibilities. You have been granted an extraordinary life, Liam and you have so much left live. I know it’s hard to see beyond the end of this fight, but life finds a way.”

 

Her eyes flickered to the main photo of her and Kara.

 

“Even with everything else going on, your mother and I found each other and we had you and your sister,” she whispered out.

 

Liam watched her carefully, his eyes probing.

 

“But why?” He asked. “Why would you have us at all when you knew that our lives would be inevitably hard?”

 

Her thoughts drifted back.

 

_Lena was humming happily to herself, roaming around her kitchen with a practised ease while she made an inhuman amount of pancakes. Kara was watching her from the other side of the counter, her eyes tracking the brunette’s every movement as if she was committing the sight of her to memory._

 

_“What do you think about kids?”_

 

_Lena almost dropped the egg she was holding, her eyes darting to Kara’s with alarm before she managed to control her expression._

 

_“I don’t know,” she said lightly, continuing her cooking. “They’ve got potential as people I guess? Though the majority of them become pretty shit adults.”_

 

_The blonde rolled her eyes._

 

_“First of all, I know you have more faith in people than that,” she replied. “And secondly, I know you know what I’m talking about.”_

 

_The panic grew in Lena’s chest. A part of her had always known that Kara would want a family, and the brunette knew with all her heart that her girlfriend would be a phenomenal mother._

 

_She just didn’t think she could._

 

_“I don’t know… I’ve never really, wanted any,” she replied, turning her back to blonde while she turned off the burner slowly._

 

_Lena bit her lip, before turning back to face Kara and spoke before the silence became deafening._

 

_“No, that’s not true… it’s not that I never wanted to. I just wouldn’t want any of my children to be burdened with my last name.”_

 

_Kara shrugged, eyes sparkling._

 

_“What about if they had my last name?”_

 

_The CEO let out a breath, annoyed that her weak argument had failed._

 

_“Kara Zor El, are you trying to tell me you want children with me?” She said, trying to deflect with an arch of her eyebrow which she knew drove her girlfriend crazy. “A bit presumptuous for the first morning after conversation.”_

 

_It worked, Kara flushing lightly as she looked down at the counter and ran her fingers lightly across it._

 

_“Come on… this may be the first time we’ve… you know…”_

 

_“Had sex in an actual bed?”_

 

_Kara’s blush deepened and Lena wondered for the millionth time how someone who was so incredibly confident as Supergirl, and in bed, could be so incredibly awkward when they talked about it in the light of day._

 

_“God, you’re such a dork,” Lena said with a laugh, reaching out to pour a ridiculous amount of syrup over Kara’s mile-high stack of pancakes._

 

_Before she could put the bottle down, Kara caught her hand._

 

_“Come on, Lena,” she said seriously, drawing the brunette’s attention. “You and I both know we’ve spent ages leading up to this. It’s not a ridiculous conversation, we’ve talked about everything else.”_

 

_Lena sighed, but she knew Kara was right. They had talked about everything else under the earth sun and Krypton’s sun. Even though they seemed to be everything out of order when it came to their relationship, becoming far more close emotionally before anything physical had ever happened between them at all._

 

_The brunette eyed her girlfriend, who was still looking at her with large and open eyes that always seemed to beg total honesty from Lena._

 

_“Do you want kids?” The CEO asked, already knowing the answer._

 

_“Yes,” Kara replied without missing a beat._

 

_Lena thought for a second, before asking her next serious question._

 

_“Why? Is this about preserving your name? Passing on your DNA? Your powers?”_

 

_She didn’t think it was, but as Kara had said they’d never discussed it before…._

 

_The blonde shook her head immediately._

 

_“No, of course not. I want kids because… My life has been steeped in tragedies, but I’ve also had so many incredible things happen to me. My family crest, it means hope. And that’s what kids mean too. It means you have hope that the future will be better than today. That things will be better.”_

 

_Whenever Kara talked so optimistically it easily became infectious. Even Lena, who was in the running for the most cynical person on the planet, couldn’t help but believe it down to the roots of her soul._

 

_But this was children._

 

_“What if they’re not?” She asked, the terror evident in her voice._

 

_Kara soothed her by rubbing small circles on the back of her hand._

 

_“You’ve gone through your life with a shadow over your head, Lena,” she whispered gently. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”_

 

_Lena felt a wave of love for the women in front of her._

 

_She reached out with her other hand to cup the blonde’s cheek, staring deeply into her eyes._

 

_“It won’t be, as long as I have you.”_

 

_Kara smiled, mirroring Lena’s gesture._

 

_“I’ll never leave you,” she said, tracing her thumb gently over the brunette’s cheekbone. “You know that right?”_

 

_Years ago, in a time that her life Lena didn’t want to recall because it hadn’t included Kara, the brunette wouldn’t have believed it. The idea that someone, anyone, would become close to a Luthor and stay solely because they loved them was laughable._

 

_But Kara never was like everyone else._

 

_“I know, darling,” the brunette confessed. “You’re my whole world.”_

 

_Lena moved to drop her hand but Kara caught it once more, holding both of the brunette’s as she pressed them over her heart._

 

_“I want a family with you, Lena,” she said sincerely. “I want to create a family with you. Full of joy and love and life. I want to have kids because I want you to have the life you’ve always deserved. I want to have kids because the bond between me and my parents transcended death and a whole universe. I want to share that with you. I want to see them go through life, live it to its fullest. I want to see myself in them, I want to see you in them… and I just want to see them. I want us to have children because you deserve to feel the unconditional love between a parent and a child.”_

 

_At Kara’s honest words, Lena felt a yearning from deep in her chest grow._

 

_“I’m scared that I’ll fuck them up,” she whispered back. “That I’ll look at them and I won’t…. I won’t feel anything.”_

 

_The blonde shook her head in disbelief._

 

_“Of course you’ll love them.”_

 

_Lena blinked back tears._

 

_“How do you know?”_

 

_The blonde looked at her like she was seeing Lena for the first time._

 

_“Because….” she whispered out. “You love me.”_

 

_It was the first time she had ever said it, and it hit Lena over the head like a mallet. The brunette had known that the feelings she and Kara had shared had long since grown past the ‘like’ stage. But to hear it come out of the blonde’s own mouth was….._

 

_“Well,” she bustled, trying to brush it off and calm the loud beating of her heart. “That’s awfully presumptuous of you to assume.”_

 

_Kara watched her silently from her seat, before dropping their joined hands and zooming around the counter with her super speed so she was standing in front of Lena._

 

_Looking down at her with a smile, the blonde lifted a surprised Lena up from the ground and lowering her so she was sitting on the counter._

 

_“Am I wrong?” The blonde purred, leaning forward so she could press her lips against Lena’s neck._

 

_The brunette’s eyes fluttered closed, a stifled a groan as Kara’s lips trailed up her neck and jawline before hovering over her lips._

 

_Lena opened her eyes to see Kara staring at her from an inch away._

 

_“I don’t want to love you…” She confessed._

 

_The blonde’s mouth twitched into a smile._

 

_“Why?” She whispered back._

 

_The brunette winced, leaning forward so she could rest her head in the crook of Kara’s neck._

 

_“Because I am afraid you’ll leave me,” she whispered out so slowly, only someone with super hearing could have picked it up._

 

_Kara let out a breath, before shifting back and capturing Lena’s chin with her fingers._

 

_“Lena… Lena, look at me,” she said softly, drawing the CEO’s eyes from the floor to her own blue ones._

 

_“I promise, I will never, ever, leave you. Nothing you could possibly do will ever stop me from loving you.”_

 

_Lena’s cheeks flooded with heat._

 

_“You love me?” She said incredulously._

 

_Kara brushed away a tear that had fallen down Lena’s cheek._

 

_“Of course I do,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And I always will.”_

 

_Lena watched her for half a minute, completely lost in her eyes until something clicked in her chest and she realised she wasn’t afraid anymore._

 

_“I love you too.”_

 

_The blonde pressed her lips against hers quickly, before whispering against them._

 

_“I know.”_

 

Lena shook her head, trying to shake away the now-bittersweet memories while her son watched her curiously.

 

“Because I loved you. I loved you both, before you and your sister were even born. I loved you the second I decided I loved your mother.”

 

Liam arched an eyebrow.

 

“You decided you loved Mama? The way she tells it, your love was ‘destined to be’.”

 

Lena laughed quietly, looking out the windows once more in thought.

 

“Your mother crossed an entire universe and of all the planets she could’ve been sent to, it was here,” she sounded out with a smile. “Of all the countries, it was here. Of all the cities she ended up in, it was here.”

 

Lena turned back to look at her son.

 

“And me… my mother may never have died. My father may never have taken me in. Everything with Lex… Maybe I never would have taken over the company. Maybe I never would have moved to National City. Maybe your mother and I never would have met.”

 

Lena smiled and reached out to grip her son’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

 

“Except we did. All of that happened. We met and she fell in love with me and yes, I decided to fall in love with her too. Because when I looked in her eyes, I could see an entire life she could offer me. One I never dreamed of having. Because when I looked in her eyes, I saw possibilities, I saw hope. And when I looked in her eyes, I saw the beginnings of _you_.”

 

The memory of it grew like a balloon in her chest, mirroring her despair that her actions had led to her losing everything.

 

Liam watched her, his own eyes filling with sadness.

 

“Why can’t you just be together? Why can’t…. “

 

Lena felt the balloon pop as the memories came rushing back.

 

Hating herself, resenting Kara.

 

Cheating on her.

 

All but throwing Kara out the door.

 

And tonight… Kara finally doing the smart thing and turning her away.

 

“Too much has happened, Liam,” she said without a hint of emotion.

 

“But you still love each other!” He cried out. “Why does anything else matter?”

 

Lena was at a loss. How could she explain everything that Kara and she were? Their entire, intimate and complicated relationship? The way that they had inevitably built parts of their own identities entirely dependant on each other? The pain of not even being separated by death, but by her own stupidity? Of having the only person she ever wanted so close to her and yet so far?

 

Stopping her heart from betraying her, only to find out she had done it once again?

 

“I don’t know,” was all she could say.

 

Liam didn’t look satisfied.

 

“Mom-“

 

She cut him off, standing to her feet.

 

“Liam… I’m pretty tired… it’s been a long day.”

 

He rushed to his own.

 

“Mom, I didn’t mean to-“

 

She cut him off with a strained smile.

 

“It’s ok. I’m just… I’m just getting tired.”

 

Lena walked away at that, just hearing her son’s sad reply.

 

“Goodnight, Mom.”

 

* * *

 

 _Kia was lying under soft sheets, eyes closed but her entire body singing as the morning sunlight hit her naked back. She had been awake for a few minutes but had been more than happy to stay still while her fiance traced patterns on her skin._ _  
_

_After a while, she stopped and Kia cracked open an eyelid to spot the other woman staring down at her with a soft smile._ _  
_

_The blonde reached out and rested her hand on Rebecca’s stomach, starting her own tracings of patterns while they stared into each other’s eyes._ _  
_

_“Was I snoring?” Kia asked._ _  
_

_Bec smiled._ _  
_

_“No.”_ _  
_

_The blonde hummed in assent, ready to close her eyes once more when she felt Rebecca shift until her face was a nose distance away from Kia’s own._ _  
_

 

_“You know what I’ve never done?” She whispered._

_  
_ _“What?” Kia whispered back._ __  


_Bec’s eyes flickered to Kia’s mouth and the blonde could feel the air between them growing thick with tension._ _  
_

_“I’ve never spent the whole day in bed with a really great girl.”_ _  
_

_Kia smiled crookedly, her hand tightening on Rebecca’s waist._   


 

 _“Me neither.”_ _  
_

_Bec rolled her eyes when Kia tried to pull her further in and kiss her._ _  
_

_“I’m serious,” she laughed, pushing back slightly. “I always think of something more important to do. I’m a workaholic.”_ _  
_

_Kia groaned at her plans being foiled and agreed that her fiancée worked all the time, hard._ _  
_

_“Ohhhh,” she hummed out._ _  
_

_Bec nodded._ _  
_

_“It’s really bad.”_ _  
_

_Kia hummed again, ready to fall back asleep when her girlfriend’s hand pressed against her chest._ _  
_

_“Will you spend the whole day in bed with me?” Bec asked, her own eyes darkening. “And we can do nothing?”_ _  
_

_Kia’s mouth curled and she pushed herself up so she could press Rebecca back. The blonde arched above her, pressing kisses that trailed from the other woman’s sternum to her jaw while her fingers danced over her skin. It was only when her mouth had pressed a final kiss to Bec’s, her wavy hair falling over both of them like a curtain, that she pulled back slightly._ _  
_

_  
_ _“Babe, I’d love to spend the whole day in bed with my incredibly hot fiancée….”_ __  


_Bec’s eyes filled with disappointment and she nudged Kia off of her, the blonde falling back on her side of the bed._ _  
_

_“But you’ve got patrol.”_ _  
_

_Kia frowned. She knew that whenever she went out as Supergirl that her fiancée worried. Even though she would never say anything about it._ _  
_

_“Yeah… and you’ve got an appointment at the hospital,” the blonde murmured, reaching out once again to play with Bec’s hair, regrown for years now to a long length. “To get your vaccine.”_ _  
_

_Bec let her continue her ministrations, but she let out a sigh._ _  
_

_“I’m in remission, Kia. I have been for a while now, remember?”_ _  
_

_The blonde frowned._ _  
_

_She knew that Rebecca was reluctant to get the vaccine, her logic being that if she ever relapsed then she would get it then. But Kia didn’t want to wait in case that happened. Even though all the trials had been successful, maybe Bec would be the one case it didn’t work on. Wouldn’t it be better knowing if that was the case before anything else went wrong?_ _  
_

_“Bec, the FDA finally approved the drug for mass use and the Luthor Hospital is-“_ _  
_

_The other woman cut her off._ _  
_

_“Your family’s hospital.”_

_  
_ _The blonde rolled her eyes._ __  


_“Yes…. my family’s hospital, which will soon be your family too at the end of the year….”_ _  
_

_Bec groaned._ _  
_

_“No. I don’t want a winter wedding. I told you that.”_ _  
_

_“We live in California!”_ _  
_

_“No.”_ _  
_

_Kia pursed her lips._ _  
_

_“Then we’ll fly to Australia, so it’ll be summer.”_ _  
_

_“No.”_ _  
_

_Kia groaned and rolled onto her back._ _  
_

_“Bec, please,” she whined. “I don’t need all this pomp and circumstance. I just want to marry you.”_ _  
_

_The other woman shook her head and frowned._ _  
_

_Kia cursed the fact that one of the things she had found so attractive about Rebecca had been her stubbornness._ _  
_

_“Well, I like the pomp and circumstance. I like that your Mom’s and your Aunt’s and your whole assortment of family members are descending like vultures. I like that they care so much. And I want to do this properly so that everyone in the entire world can know how much I love you.”_ _  
_

_Kia’s heart melted at the words in tandem with her fiancée’s wide eyes._ _  
_

_“Please then,” she conceded. “Pick a date for next year?”_ _  
_

_Bec nodded, delighted that she had finally worn Kia down._ _  
_

_“I will,” she said simply._ _  
_

_Kia nodded, happy that they had finally agreed on something about this wedding._ _  
_

_Or she had finally given in._ _  
_

_The blonde reluctantly sat up, pulling on a discarded shirt from the night before over her head and trying to remember if it was her or her fiancée’s._ _  
_

_“Hey,” Rebecca began to say while getting ready herself, in a casual enough voice that Kia’s eyes narrowed. “What do you think about me asking Liam to be my Man of Honour?”_ _  
_

_The blonde thought about her grumpy brother, who seemed to be in a constant state of angry and depressed ever since he split up from his boyfriend._ _  
_

_“That moody little-“_ _  
_

_Bec cut her off with a sigh._ _  
_

_“I really wish you and your brother would get along,” she complained. “He’s practically the reason we met in the first place.”_ _  
_

_The blonde used her super speed to finish getting ready and was dressed in under five seconds, while Bec eyed her with envy._ _  
_

_“We’re just different people, Becs,” she responded simply, pouring herself a bowl of cereal._ _  
_

_“Besides all that crap last year had made him worse than ever. I don’t get it, I never liked that guy he was dating and then when they broke up, Liam became a mess. On top of that, Uncle Clark died and his whole life derailed, which was weird because they never seemed that close in the first place. I think they had five conversations their entire lives.”_ _  
_

_  
_ _She chugged back some orange juice while Bec shrugged._

_  
_ _“Maybe he just needs someone to talk to.”_

_  
_ _Kia eyed her with gentle annoyance._

_  
_ _“Well, you’re his ‘friend’, why don’t you talk to him?” She asked._

_  
_ _Her fiancée’s face grew disappointed._

_  
_ _“He hasn’t been returning my calls,” she muttered._

_  
_ _Kia felt her heart groan and she immediately resigned herself, not unhappily, to a life spent making sure her love didn’t spend a minute of it sad if she could make it better._

_  
_ _“Hey, chin up,” the blonde said, pulling the shorter woman in for a hug. “If it really means that much to you we’ll have him over for lunch or something. A goodbye thing before he goes to college in the fall.”_

_  
_ _Bec squeezed her tightly._

_  
_ _“Thank you.”_

_  
_ _The blonde let her go and stared down at her with a firm look._

_  
_ _“Only… if you go get your injection today.”_

_  
_ _Bec rolled her shoulders._

_  
_ _“Kia-“_

_  
_ _But the blonde wouldn’t budge on this._

_  
_ _“They’re prioritising people with cancer in treatment and remission for a reason, babe. Please, for me?” She half begged._

_  
_ _“I don’t like it there,” Rebecca confessed. “Too many bad memories.”_

_  
_ _“I know, babe,” Kia replied gently. “I’d go with you, except I have-“_

_  
_ _“Patrol. I know.”_

_  
_ _A short silence descended, and Kia pressed her finger underneath the shorter woman’s chin so she could look into her eyes._

_  
_ _“You know I’d give it all up for you.”_

_  
_ _Bec smiled sadly._

_  
_ _“No you wouldn’t.”_

_  
_ _The blue-eyed woman disagreed._

_  
_ _“I would. Every power, all the heroism stuff-“_

_  
_ _Bec cut her off with a quick kiss._

_  
_ _“No,” she said when it broke. "Because all that stuff was why I fell in love with you. You are a hero, Kia. You help people, it’s in your blood.”_

_  
_ _Bec stepped back, stealing a spoonful of Kia’s cereal before grabbing her shoes._

_  
_ _“Are you sure you’re going to be ok without me there today?” Kia asked, still concerned._

_  
_ _Bec laughed and nodded._

 

_“It’s just an injection, Kia. What’s the worst that could happen?”_

 

 _The next time the blonde saw Rebecca she was lifting half a concrete wall off of her lifeless body._  
  
  


* * *

  
  
“You’re getting rusty,” Alex teased, launching Liam into the air with a solid kick to his chest that would’ve broken his ribs if he was unmodified.

 

He scrambled to his feet with a huff, bouncing on the balls of his feet and ready to go again.“No, I’m not,” he stubbornly insisted.

 

 She laughed when he launched at her once again, deftly sidestepping while his momentum caused him to hit the opposite wall and crack the concrete.

 

“Please, you’re all brawn and no technique. You think you can rely on your strength to carry you through any fight.”

 

He shook his head, stalking back towards her.

 

“That’s not-“

 

Alex hooked his leg, knocking him flat on his back while she leaned over him with her hand stretched out, indicating the end of the sparring session.

 

“But I can still put you on your ass.”

 

Liam huffed, but accepted the hand and let himself be pulled up.

 

“I was going easy on you,” he said primly, making the redhead cackle.

 

“Sure you were. Mr. ‘I’ve Got Super Strength That Isn’t Affected By Kryptonite’. That’ll teach you for calling me an old lady.”

 

Smiling, she began to unwrap her hands noting that Liam was watching her with a nervous expression.

 

“Alex, I wanted to… apologise for what happened in the park with Kia. I went after the guy when you ordered me back and-“

 

She flicked her hand up, stopping his rambling that reminded her so much of Kara.

 

“And you came back, and saved your sister’s life.”

 

He swallowed.

 

“I almost didn’t.”

 

Alex smiled at that.

 

“Well, if we lived our lives thinking about ‘almosts’, we’d never get anything done at all,” she responded.

 

He watched her incredulously and she was surprised to see tears spring in his eyes.

 

“How can you have… forgiven me?” He asked.

 

The redhead frowned, letting her own, still complicated emotions settle so she could pull at one thread she had been thinking about all day.

 

“You were a child, Liam.”

 

“I was eighteen-“

 

Alex held up her hand, once again cutting him off and closed her eyes.

 

She still struggled with Liam and she probably would for the rest of her life. Maybe it was harsh, maybe she was too defensive but in Alex’s mind, nothing ranked higher than loyalty to your family. And what Liam had done, the group of people he had fallen into that wanted nothing more than to see half of his family wiped off the face of the earth had been unforgivable in her eyes.

 

But it was easier to see an angry child through the lens of an arrogant man. The real question in Alex’s mind, the real disbelief….was that someone could change at all. But if a kind and caring boy, could be infected with hate surely the opposite must be true?

 

“You were a child,” she said softly, convincing herself as much as him with every word. “Played by a malicious, spiteful, horrible person who convinced you that he loved you.”

 

A feeling of guilt spiked her heart.

 

“And all of us missed it. I missed it. You… you don’t bear all of the responsibility of falling in with them. And you didn’t blow up that hospital.”

 

Alex eyed her nephew with sudden intensity.

 

“More important than that, you went back and saved your sister’s life. If there’s one thing I can respect, it’s that. I may not… you have a long way to go. But I think… you might just be worth a little bit of my investment. You’re not a bad person, Liam.”

 

His eyes filled with even more tears and his face grew even more broken.

 

Liam’s fingers clenched and she could see that he was struggling with something deeper.

 

“But I am, Auntie. I’ve done… I did…”

 

He drifted off weakly, his eyes still flashing with fear.

 

“Things you did in space-“

 

This time, he cut her off.

 

“Not in space and it’s not about the bombing. Do you remember… the debriefing Ma gave me?”

 

Alex’s concern and wariness spiked.

 

“How could I forget? She still won’t tell me about it.”

 

Liam took a deep and ragged breath.

  
“Because I did something… I… let something happen. And then Ma she…. there was a reason she thought I did the bombing. Because I’d already betrayed her trust once and she covered it up.”

 

The redhead frowned, confused.

 

Kara had covered up something that Liam had done?

 

“Liam, what are you talking about?”

 

He seemed to choke on his words.

 

“Alex, I’m the reason that-“

 

Before he could finish a loud bang sounded from the DEO main hub and sent Alex immediately running in its direction, Liam hot on her heels.

 

They entered the room to see a ring of wary people standing around, of all people, Mon-El.

 

Liam eyed the older man with shock, stunned to see him and how drastically his appearance had changed. He looked older than anyone his family in that generation. With an almost all grey hair and beard.

 

The older man also looked furious and stalked towards Alex once he spotted her.

 

“WHERE THE HELL IS MY DAUGHTER?” He shouted.

  
Alex’s eyebrow arched at the yell and Liam’s hackles immediately rose in defensiveness.

 

“Mon-El. I haven’t seen you in a while,” she said coolly. “What brings you here?”

The man snarled.

 

“Save it, Alex,” he bit out sharply.

 

“You’ve gotten my daughter roped up in this mess. Where is she?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

The older man took another step into Alex’s space and Liam immediately placed an arm in between them, pushing the older man backwards and away.

 

“Woah, man. I think you need to cool down,” he said slowly.

 

Mon-El looked at him, his eyes with disbelief, horror and even more rage. He suddenly swung a punch faster than the speed of light, hitting Liam’s jaw with enough strength to break it with a loud crack.

 

The younger man staggered back with a cry, wincing as his body reset it in a manner of seconds.

 

“Why do people keep punching me when they meet me?” He asked the room at large, rubbing his cheek.

 

“Is it because I have one of those faces?”

 

Alex gritted her teeth at Liam’s typically ill-timed joke.

 

The older man’s face grew an even deeper shade of purple.

 

“You think this is funny you little shit? I should have known it was you, WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?”

 

At the final yell, a loud cough rang out and the whole room turned in its direction.

 

Nina was the source, looking exhausted.

 

“I’m right here, Dad.”

* * *

 

_“No.”_

 

_The doctor gave her a well practised, sorrowful look._

 

 _“I’m sorry_ Mrs. _Luthor,” she sounded out while Kara’s ears began to ring in shock. “I really am. But your son’s cancer has metastasised to his other organs. Treatment won’t help him now.”_

 

_Kara refused to believe it and shook her head firmly._

 

_“No, I’m telling you that you’re wrong. There has to be something, my wife-“_

 

_The doctor cut her off gently._

 

 _“What your wife has done for research into oncology will make the difference between life and death for thousands of people,_ Mrs. _Luthor,” she said softly, but firmly. “The things she has done, combining alien medicine with ours and finding and identifying the gene that causes some cancers in a foetus is incredible. But, I’m afraid… it’s not enough to save your son.”_

 

 _Kara’s tongue felt like a lead weight in her mouth. The last ten years,_ _everything her entire family had been through…Everything that Lena had done…._

 

_Everything that Liam had endured._

 

_“So you’re telling me that,” she said quietly. “My son is going to die and there’s nothing I can do.”_

 

_“Yes.”_

 

_The blonde shuddered._

 

_“How long?” She demanded._

 

_The doctor let out a breath._

 

_“If we’re lucky, a month.”_

 

_Kara’s eyes flew open as the shock finally set in._

 

_“A month… until my son dies.”_

 

_The doctor gave her another kind look but Kara didn’t care, instead of turning to look at her son through the glass window to his room. Looking so small and frail as he stared out over the night lights of the city._

 

_“We should discuss palliative care options-“_

 

_She turned back to the doctor and cut her off._

 

_“My son is in the next room, doctor…. Could I just have… a moment to tell him before…. Before we discuss how he is going to die? I need to… I need to talk to him…. and my wife.”_

 

_Kara’s mind flooded with more dread._

 

_What was she going to tell Lena?_

 

_“Of course,” the doctor conceded. “Would you like me to-“_

 

_Kara shook her head._

 

_“No. I need to do this by myself,” she said in a choked voice._

 

_The doctor nodded and walked off, leaving Kara struggling for breath as her mind seemed to flash through every single moment she had ever spent with her son in his life. The blonde turned on her feet and began her wooden walk into Liam’s room, trying to figure out the words to tell her son that he was going to die in less than a month._

 

_No parent should have to bury their child._

 

_Liam was still staring out the large windows at the lights of the city,_

 

_Kara following his gaze to the large L-Corp building where Lena had undoubtedly spent another long day trying again and again to make the breakthrough that would save her son’s life._

 

_And now Kara had to tell her it hadn’t worked._

 

_Liam suddenly spoke, even though he didn’t shift his gaze._

 

_“It’s not good, is it? I can hear it in the way you walk even without superpowers.”_

 

_He spoke with the weight of a tired old man and Kara once again cursed Rao for giving her son this terrible disease._

 

_She rushed forward at that, moving to sit on the chair she had fallen asleep in so many times and he turned to look at her with sunken eyes._

 

_“Liam, we can try something else,” she said firmly. “Go to another hospital. Put you in suspended stasis-“_

 

_He cut her off with a head shake._

 

_“And with my immune system as weak as it is now, I probably wouldn’t last the process. I’m not an alien, Ma. I don’t have the same strength. Humans aren’t meant to be treated with alien tech,” he finished with a whisper._

 

_Kara bit her lip and began to cry._

 

_“There has to be some way-“_

 

 _Liam reached out at her words and covered her tanned hand with his_ _boney one._

 

_"You and Mom have spent the past ten years trying to find another way… There isn’t one,” he said without a hint of fear. “And I can’t handle it anymore… I can’t handle any more treatment, having to repeat this nightmare.”_

_Kara felt dread fill her stomach like acid._

 

_“We need to do something-“_

 

_Liam cut her off._

 

_“How long?”_

 

_“Son-“_

 

_“How long do I have?”_

 

_Kara swallowed dryly before whispering out the answer._

 

_“A month.”_

 

_He didn’t react at first, except to look down at their joined fingers and back over the skyline, but when he spoke his voice wasn’t filled with anger or sadness._

 

_But acceptance._

 

_“A decade I’ve been battling Leukaemia,” he said calmly. “I’ve been through four full sets of chemo. So many trips to the hospital I’ve lost count. Knowing how much everyone has tried I’m… grateful and relieved, but I’m ok if this is the end.”_

 

_He turned back to look at her, his face clear and strong._

 

_“I don’t want to be resuscitated.”_

 

_The word hung in the air._

 

_“Liam, your mother is so close to having a breakthrough. The last few months she’s barely slept, she’s been in the labs that much-“_

 

_He cut her off, shushing her falling tears and the sob that escaped her._

 

_“Whatever she can find before my heart stops, go for it,” he answered, for the first time his eyes becoming pleading. “Please… do this for me, Ma.”_

 

 _And_ in _that moment, she knew she would. Kara would do anything for her son._

 

_Even let him die on his own terms._

 

_But…._

 

_“Liam… your mother-”_

 

_He cut her off, his own tears growing now._

 

_“I’m asking you, Ma. I know that she won’t… understand. But I’m not giving up… I’m just… I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m asking you because you’re the only one that convinces her of anything.”_

 

_He squeezed her hand with all the strength he could muster and Kara could hear his heart pounding in his chest._

_“Please, Ma,” he begged._

_Kara closed her eyes, but she bent to kiss his hand._

_“Ok, Liam… ok.”_

 

_He breathed a sigh of relief, and even though she felt like her world was crashing down around her the blonde couldn’t help but feel relieved as well. Finally, her son’s agony would be over._

 

_It didn’t stop her from crying._

 

_“Hey,” Liam said soothingly. “It’ll be ok.”_

 

_Kara shook her head, her eyes redder than they were ever even with her heat vision._

 

_“I’m losing you, Liam. It’ll never be ok,” she said flatly._

 

_The blonde was easily becoming lost to morose thoughts when Liam closed his eyes with exhaustion and whispered._

 

_“Tell me about Krypton.”_

 

_Kara blinked in surprise._

 

_“Krypton?”_

 

_He nodded tiredly._

 

_“A story… like you did when I was little. Tell me about the sky. The sun…. please. Tell me about Seg-El. How he restored our family name. I always liked that one.”_

 

_Kara smiled at the memory of how much Liam had gotten excited about bedtime because every night she had told him a story about her planet. Myths, legends and truths. All in an effort to preserve a living history of their people on Earth._

 

_“Your mother made me stop telling you that story,” she whispered out. “It gave you nightmares.”_

 

_His smile widened, even as his eyes stayed shut._

 

_“I’m not scared.”_

 

_Kara’s heart burst with pride at her son’s strength. Even at the end of his long a battering battle, he was stronger than she had ever been._

  
  
_“Well, neither was your grandfather. In fact, that was probably the hallmark of his personality. It all started when his grandfather, Val El was executed for treason….”  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you liked to new an improved quality :) If you want to follow me on Tumblr, please look for the link in my bio. 
> 
> You can yell at me, ask questions and cringe at me mediocre sketches (of which there will be a lot, especially for this fic). Already have a sketch of Liam up if you guys would like to see him the way I imagine.
> 
> Remember to thank the amazing Satanstaco in the comment, they have saved your eyes.
> 
> Alas, you will just have to endure my dyslexia in the replies you get….


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACKKKKKKKK.... enjoy :)

The little girl sat on the edge of the chair, staring down at her toes as her legs swung in and out. She hadn’t said much since they first arrived in the building, having been put down and told to wait by her father, but that didn’t bother her much. 

 

Nina wasn’t much of a talker, between older siblings that seemed to take up all the air of any room they were in and living the majority of her life of a spaceship, Nina spent most of her time reading or drawing. Sitting in the middle of a secret government facility was pretty standard for her. Except the thing that made this exciting was that it was her first visit to the twenty-first century that she could remember. Everything was a lot brighter here, the sun not marred behind a thousand years of pollution and war, but the people were the same. All were running around, frustrated and busy, talking to each other about important things that nobody ever thought Nina would understand.

 

But even though she was only a few years old, she understood more about the ways of the world than most.

 

She knew that her father didn’t want to bring her with him here, but he didn’t have much choice. He and her mother had been arguing recently about the lack of time her father spent with her and Paul (her immediately older sibling), so he had conceded to bring her along for this mission when the DEO had called for his help. 

 

Her dad loved to travel back to the future whenever help was called for. For some reason, it always made her mother’s face twist in sadness, especially when she was left to take care of the Legion and their children by herself. 

 

Her father hadn’t been happy to bring her, Nina knew that much, which was probably why he had been spending the past ten minutes arguing with the old director of the DEO named J’onn, who had introduced himself with a kind smile and a cookie.  

 

“Mr Matthews, this is not a daycare facility,” the man rumbled from inside the office.

 

Mon-El ran his hands through his hair with frustration, his gaze flickering to his youngest child kicking her feet into the air on the chair outside of the office. He turned his eyes back to look at his youngest daughter and frowned.

 

“Every single one of these kids has spent time here at one point or another!”

 

J’onn crossed his arms, unimpressed. 

 

“Maybe on occasion to visit, but not to use this facility as a nannying service!”

 

“Kara called me here for help, remember?”

 

“I don’t think she expected you to bring a toddler on your mission!”

 

Mon-El let out a huff, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly.

 

“Look, I didn’t have a choice,” he explained. “Her mother has been on my case about not spending enough time with her. There has to be someone here who can keep an eye on her for a few days.”

 

J’onn looked out at the little girl, still happily entertaining herself, and let out a sigh.

 

“There might be someone.”

 

======

  
  


Nina looked up at the tall and beautiful woman with dark hair while clutching at the side of her father’s leg, even as he tried to push her forward. The woman with the green eyes noticed her hesitation and crouched down, so they were at the same level. She held her hand out with a kind smile for Nina to take.

 

“Hi, there,” she said softly, making Nina blink at the kindness in her voice. “My name’s Lena.”

 

The little girl didn’t reply, still shy and slightly wary of this strange woman.

 

“The last time I saw you, you were just a baby.”

 

Nina just stared silently, and her father let out a frustrated huff before pushing her forward once more.

 

“This is your Aunt Lena, Ninette,” he explained. “She’s married to Kara. You remember Kara?”

 

The little girl nodded, recalling the lovely blonde lady who had visited the ship she lived on once. She had given Nina a real book, with actual pages, as a present.

 

“Nina,” the little girl said quietly, reminding her father of the name she preferred to be called by, instead of the full name that she despised so much.

 

Lena smiled at her words, looking up into the tall man’s eyes.

 

“I don’t think she likes that name, Mon-El,” she said teasingly, before shooting a wink in Nina’s direction and making the young girl giggle.

 

“Thank you, Lena,” her father replied with a slight bite in his tone. “For your fabulous parenting advice. It’s not like I have five children or anything.”

 

The brunette let out a soft sigh and stood to her feet. Nina stared up at the two adults curiously, sensing that there seemed to be a robust and unspoken tension between the pair. A few seconds of quiet passed before her father blinked and looked down at his daughter once more.

 

“Lena’s going to be looking after you today, Ninette,” he said flatly.

 

Nina felt a flash of panic, looking up at the woman again with fear and clung to her father’s leg tightly.

 

“No. I don’t want to go!” She cried out. “Mom said I had to stay with you!”

 

The man groaned and attempted to pry her away from his leg without hurting her.

 

“Well, you have to.”

 

Nina’s eyes began to tear.

 

“NO!” She wailed out.

 

Nina was slowly starting to panic, in this strange place and time where she didn’t know anyone. He father began to speak louder and louder, trying to pull her off and suddenly she felt a gentle hand touch her back. Lena started to talk in a soothing voice.  

 

“Hey, there now,” the woman said kindly, crouching down once more and getting Nina’s hiccoughing attention. “I know this must be really scary for you, coming all the way here with your Dad and not knowing anybody. But I promise  I’m going to make this day the most fun you’ve ever had. Your Mom told me you like space stuff the last time she came. She told me you helped rebuild your ship's engine with your Uncle Brainy and your brother Paul, is that true?”

 

Nina sniffed, wiping some of her tears out of her eyes, intrigued by the beautiful woman’s words despite herself.

 

“Yeah…” She said softly.

 

Lena gave her a knowing look and let out an impressed nod.

 

“I build spaceships too, you know,” she said in a conspiratorial voice.

 

Nina felt a bloom of excitement grow in her chest as she let go of her father’s leg.

 

“You do?” She asked.

 

Lena nodded again.

 

“When my kids were little, they used to love to come with me to my factories and see all the cool ships that my company was building. Maybe you and I could go check one out today?”

 

Nina began to bounce eagerly on her toes at the idea, but a part of her was still uncertain. She looked up at her father; he was staring off in a far corner with a stony expression that the little girl couldn’t understand.

 

Who wouldn’t be excited by spaceships?

 

“I don’t know,” she answered instead, looking back to the kind woman.

 

Lena tilted her head and arched her eyebrow.

 

“You’d be doing me a favour. My kids don’t want to come with me anymore… they think I’m boring… Do you think I’m boring too?”

 

Nina had only known this lady for a few minutes, but she knew that wasn’t true.

 

“No…” 

 

The woman stood to her feet and held out her hand once more for the little girl to take.

 

“Could you come then? It’d make me happy. Then, on the way back, we can get some ice-cream.”

 

Nina smiled and took Lena’s hand; she liked ice-cream.

 

“Ok, I’ll come with you.”

 

==============

 

Nina was once again sitting in the corner of a room, all by herself. The party going on around her was loud and noisy, most of the adults drunk, dancing and laughing while the older kids hung out outside, displaying their superpowers in a test of ego against each other. She watched as Kia used her heat vision in a jacked up version of darts, only to set the whole board on fire. She lifted her laughing girlfriend in her arms. 

 

It was a party to celebrate Liam’s clean bill of health, loud and rowdy as an overfill of emotions poured out of everyone, all thankful that he was still alive. Nina didn’t have anybody to talk to though, being the youngest person there. She had come to visit her aunts like she did every year and watched as her mother and father spoke to a happy and smiling Kara in the corner of the room.

 

Suddenly, her eye was caught by Liam himself, looking around the party and slowly sneaking upstairs. She hesitated for a few minutes, before deciding to follow him. She slowly tiptoed up the stair, before finding herself outside of the older boy’s room. Nina hovered, undecided if she should leave him alone like he wanted when she heard his voice speak through the door.

 

“I may not have superpowers, Kia but I still can hear you,” he bit out gruffly. “If you want something, go ask Mom and fuck off.”

 

Nina bit her lip, before pressing the door open and watching as the dark-haired boy lay flat back on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling while some low, crooning music played in the background.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

His head tilted up at her word, and Nina immediately felt flustered at the being the focus of his bright green gaze.

 

“Shit…. sorry,” he answered, sitting up on his elbows. “I didn’t realise it was…. Hi Tweety. You enjoying the party?”

 

He said the last word with a tinge of bitterness and Nina looked down at the carpet, shuffling closer and hovering next to his side.

 

“Not really,” she mumbled out. “No-one ever talks to me at these things. I’m just the kid.”

 

Nina’s eyes flickered up to his when Liam let out an appreciative chuckle. The teen sat up and patted the space next to him, indicating for her to take a seat.

 

“The unfortunate nature of being the youngest child, I’m afraid,” he explained once she had settled. “You spend most of your life on the outs…”

 

Liam’s eyes seemed to be far away when he said it and his voice was distracted. He zoned back in on her and nudged her shoulder with his, laughing.

 

“But it’s more fun that way too.”

 

She looked up at him with surprise.

 

“Is it?”

 

He gave her a crooked grin.

 

“Sure.”

 

He looked around exaggeratedly, before lowering his voice and whispering.

 

“If you don’t mind me saying so, your siblings are dicks.”

 

Nina let out a snort of laughter at his words, agreeing wholeheartedly.

 

“I mean,” Liam continued. “Carter is a total wanker... Issac has spent his whole life looking down at people from his ivory tower, Jean is nice enough to your face, but has that whole mean girl thing going.” 

 

He was right, of course. Her three eldest siblings were the biggest assholes on the planet, who preferred to ignore her existence rather than acknowledge that she existed and had feelings. But nobody had ever actually said it out loud before. They are favoured to view the trio as golden.

 

“And then there’s Paul.”

 

Nina smiled down at her feet, thinking about the only brother she had, that she liked. 

 

“Yeah…. then there’s Paul.”

 

Liam’s smile softened, and he nudged her again.

 

“I don’t blame you for being on the outs of that lot. The way I figure if three of you are crap, then you and Paul must be ok-ish.”

 

Paul was the gentlest person Nina knew, content to spend his time working on his projects, whatever they may be, and reading quietly. In the entire time that Nina had been alive, her brother had maybe spent a total of ten minutes speaking to her out loud, more often communicating through silent gestures of kindness. He didn’t have many friends, just like Nina, but it didn’t seem to bother him overmuch. 

 

Her father and siblings seemed to spend their lives avoiding him, unable to handle his oddities. Still, the one time her arrogant and showboating older brother Issac had mistakenly insulted Paul in front of Imra, he had spent the next three months doing an inventory of the entire ship manually. 

 

“Not my fault he’s fucking weird,” Nina had heard Issac muttering to Jean halfway through month two. “At least Brainy fucking talks.”

 

It had made Nina furious, but there was nothing to be done. Her three oldest siblings were the apples of her father’s eye, and he wouldn’t hear a word spoken against them, mainly if it came from Nina. 

 

And after listening to Nina rant to him about their shiftiness, Paul had told her in an unusual display of voice that it didn’t bother him overly much.

 

“They’re small-minded people, Nina,” he said neutrally while tightening one of his brackets with a wrench. “Small minded people that only accept others who are different if it benefits them.”

 

Still, it made her angry.

 

“I just…. sometimes I just wish Mom and Dad would listen to me more,” she confessed out loud to Liam. “Dad always wants to know about Carter and Issac, he takes them both training and on missions all the time. And Mom spends so much time trying to stop Jean from getting in trouble. And then there’s Paul who is so kind, but…”

 

She trailed off and looked up at Liam, while he stared down at her with gentle and haunted eyes.

 

“Yeah,” he answered, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. “I understand.”

 

Nina stared downwards again, hating herself for the way her body warmed at the comforting touch. And the fact that someone was listening to her for once.

 

“It might be nice sometimes to not always be the afterthought,” she murmured.

 

Shamefully. 

 

“And when they do notice me they treat me like a baby. I’m not stupid, you know! I’m not going to fall apart.”

 

Liam let out a mirthless laugh, before falling back on the bed once more.

 

“Yeah… I know what that feels like,” he muttered out, tilting his head so he could stare back up at the ceiling once more.

 

“To be overshadowed…. it’s hard.”

 

Nina watched him cautiously, wondering how to voice her next thoughts. She had always liked Liam… a lot. Ever since she had first met him, he had always been nice to her. Playing cards with her and sneaking her sweets. He listened to what she had to say and never just treated her like a stupid child, unlike the majority of her family. She loved Paul to pieces, but sometimes it was nice to talk to someone who answered back.

 

“Everyone thought you were going to die,” she said softly, sadness tinging her words at the memory and the fear she felt. “Mom yelled at Carter when he said it a few months ago. He said that you were going to be in the ground soon. But we weren’t supposed to say it out loud.”

 

Liam stared at her silently, and for a few heart-stopping seconds, Nina wondered if he was going to yell at her. Instead, he just let out a dry laugh.

 

“Yeah, well…. my mom always had a stubborn insistence that I wouldn’t.”

 

His morbid humour felt wrong in the air, and Liam’s eyes grew distant.

 

“I was ready to die though,” he whispered out in a tight voice.

 

Nina frowned at his words, before reaching out cautiously and taking his more massive hand in hers.

 

“Were you scared?” She asked.

 

He stared at her quietly for a few minutes, her words churning in his mind.

 

“No, not really,” he confessed, haunted.  “I was happy that all this bullshit would finally be over with. It’s a bit... anticlimactic now. I can’t really talk about it with anyone. Everyone is just so happy. But…. They’re all special. They’ve always been special.” 

 

Nina could hear the tinges of bitterness in his words as his lip curled slightly.

 

“And my thing was cancer,” he spat out. “It was a shit thing, but it was with me for as long as powers and brains have been with them. Now I have no idea what to do with my life.”

 

Nina felt a flicker of unabashed pride in her chest, a part of her proud that Liam had confided his words in her, but she had no idea how to respond. The teen seemed to notice her struggle because his face suddenly cleared and he sat back up and smiled at her.

 

“What am I saying… don’t listen to me, Nina. I'm just a grump." 

 

Liam’s smile died as his eyes drifted to the bedroom door, listening as a burst of laughter occurred from downstairs.

 

“But I don’t want to go back down there. All that fuss is….well...”

 

Nina nodded, her eyes drifting around the room before they settled on a damaged board game tucked into the corner bookcase.

 

“….do you want to play Monopoly?” She asked.

 

Liam smiled and nodded.

  
  


==========

 

Nina stood with her mouth dropped and horror growing in her chest as she watched the screen with her Issac. Her father, mother and other siblings had been running around doing damage control while Issac, much to his annoyance, had been forced to look after her while they waited for snippets of news. 

 

There had been a bombing, a terrible bombing that had hurt a lot of people. 

 

“But…. what’s happening to him?” Nina asked out loud, turning to face her older brother.

 

He didn’t answer. Instead, keeping his focus on one of the agents as he read out the most recent account of casualties.

 

Nina felt the flare of panic grow, tugging at Issac’s sleeve, desperate for some confirmation that Liam was going to be ok.  

 

“What’s going to happen to Liam?”

 

The man turned to her with a harsh scowl.

 

“What do you think, picklehead. He’s going to be thrown in prison,” Issac barked out.

 

Nina’s eyes widened.

 

“But why?”

 

Issac shook his head in annoyance and stared down at her with hard eyes, making her feel as small as a bug.

 

“God, you’re stupid…” He muttered out. “Because he blew up a fucking hospital!”

 

She shook her head fiercely and scowled. 

 

“Liam wouldn’t…. he wouldn’t hurt anyone!” 

 

The last word was shouted, and some agents turned to look at her with anger. Issac grunted, looking around apologetically, before grabbing Nina’s forearm and dragging her off to the side and out of the earshot of the others.

 

“Look, I know because he took you to the zoo and you two had some weird ‘lonely kid’ bond, but you didn’t know him as well as you thought,” he shouted out harshly. “The guy always was a fucking sociopath if you ask me.”

 

Nina was becoming more and more upset, trying to reconcile the image of her friend in her mind with someone who could hurt anyone, all the while Issac looked at her with a glint in his eye.

 

“You don’t even know him!” She screamed out. “Stop lying!”

 

Issac rolled his eyes, before dragging her once more down a hall, into a room that she was forbidden from entering. Her mouth dropped in horror at the sight of piled and charred bodies, not all hidden underneath sheets.

 

She turned her head, trying to look away, but he grabbed her chin and forced her to stare.

 

“Look! LOOK!”

 

Her eyes burned with tears as she was forced to stare at the corpses, missing limbs and faces burnt beyond recognition.

 

“All those people, dead in the rubble and covered in dust, that’s what he did, ok?” Issac spat out. “Did you know that Kia’s fiancee was in there? She’s dead now. He murdered thousands of people with a push of a button.”

 

She jerked her chin away from grip finally, shaking her head as she folded her arms and hugged herself.

 

“He wouldn’t…. Liam is a good person,” she whispered, backing out of the room. “It must be a mistake.”

 

Issac’s eyes turned cold, and he moved to walk past her. Nearly knocking her over in the process.

 

“One of these days, Nina, you’re going to have to learn to grow up.”

 

==================

  
  


Nina had spent her whole life trying to figure out who she was supposed to be. A year passed again after Liam was arrested and thrown in prison, Nina retreating further into herself and her books. Nothing left in her life to do except read and spend time with Paul. Her parents wouldn’t let her do anything of value, every time she asked to be trained to fight or expand her powers, her father rebuffing her.

 

“You’re not a fighter; it’s ok not to be a fighter.”

 

They kept her safe a sheltered, on guard even more since the bombing incident as if they were both suddenly terrified she would become a terrorist by her mere friendship with Liam. She wasn’t allowed to visit the twenty-first century any longer and wasn’t allowed to walk off the ship without a chaperone following her every step of the way. 

 

And as such, Nina didn’t have any friends. Never being as popular as her other siblings with people anyway. Everybody in her family had something to contribute except for her. Carter was her father’s right-hand man, his copy in every single way. Issac was…. Issac, brilliant but cruel unless he was tempered by Carter’s influence. And her only sister was the wildest of the three. Jean was cool and intelligent and brilliant, a seemingly perfect mix of her mother and father’s attributes, but she didn’t have the time of day for Nina. The one time the teenager had managed to someone to courage to ask her to train her, the woman had dismissed her with a laugh.

 

“Sure, Nina…. hilarious.”

 

She walked away with her tail between her legs at that, listening as her sister continued to laugh with her friends.

 

“Why do your parents make you look after her anyway?”

 

“Because she doesn’t have any friends and they think she’s fragile. I wish they’d stop pawning her off on me. Carter and Issac never get asked to babysit.”

 

Later that night, the news came in from across time.

 

Liam had escaped prison and was in the wind.

  
  


================

 

Family dinners were a rare occurrence. Between the seven of them, they weren’t often together in the same place at the same time. Four of them were full-time superheroes, one spent her time as a liaison between civilians and the Legion, in between trying to keep her family in some semblance of order. Paul often spent days at a time in his room, not emerging to eat. And Nina….

 

Ate alone.

 

It didn’t help that half of them couldn’t stand the other, and would prefer to spend the rest of their lives pretending they didn’t exist. So twenty minutes into this particularly awkward meal, Nina felt like fleeing back into her room and sulking.

 

Her thoughts tuned out her siblings inane rambling, her head only twisting you in reaction at her father’s next words.

 

“Lena and Kara are getting divorced.”

 

Nina choked out her peas at the words, coughing harshly and turning her watering eyes on her father who was watching her with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“What?” She finally asked, gasping as her thoughts turned to her two aunts whom she hands seen since the bombing.

 

Her mind flashed with a memory she had of the pair, one time she spent a week with them years ago, the two curled up together underneath a throw on the couch and staring at each other with love in their eyes. 

 

Nina wasn’t stupid; she knew why the memory stuck in her mind as an example of a happy couple. She was old enough now to know that her mother and father had only gotten married a the time for political reasons, not loving ones. Nina couldn’t even recall the last time that her father and mother had held hands in front of her, let alone told each other that they loved one another.  

 

Nina had added two and two together over the years. The way that her father would drop everything the second that Kara would call in for help. Or the fact that he never wanted her mother to come with him when he did. The way every conversation between him and Lena ended in awkward silence, and he spent the entire time needling her for a reaction. 

 

Nina knew that her father was still in love with Kara, and the worst part was that he wasn’t even subtle about it.

 

Though, as with everything in their family, nobody said anything about it.

 

Issac let out a grunt at the news, loudly chewing on his meat.

 

“About time too.”

 

Nina gave him an aghast look.

 

“How can you say that?” She said.

 

“Issac!” Imra exclaimed, yelling at her brother.

 

Issac shrugged, unfettered.

 

“What? It’s true,” he replied, staring directly into Nina’s eyes.  “I wouldn’t stay with someone who spent all their time mourning a traitor. Not that anyone even knows that he is dead.”

 

His malicious grin widened.

 

"But I sure hope so.”

 

Nina scowled and began to vibrate with rage, rising a few centimetres in her chair.

 

Surprisingly, it was Jean placing a steadying hand on her arm and lowering her in her seat. 

 

That shut her up.

 

“Why do you have to be such an asshole?” Her older sister asked, glaring at Issac.

 

The man turned his gaze from Nina to her and frowned, clearly annoyed by her defence.

 

“Come on, Jean,” he crowed. “Be honest now. It would be better if the slippery bastard were dead.”

 

At the last word, Mon-El slammed his hand down on the dining table, causing it to shudder at the force, grabbing all of their attention, even Paul’s.

 

“ENOUGH!”

 

Silence descended as her father turned his gaze to his second son, Issac shrinking into his seat.

 

“Sorry, Dad.”

 

The older man let out a breath.

 

“Just eat your dinner.”

 

=============

  
  


A year after that, Imra left Mon-El.

 

Nina wasn’t sure what had happened specifically to make it occur, one day she returned to her room to find her mother waiting on her bed to talk to her to tell her the news. She was travelling to the twenty-first century, had been thinking about it for a long time. Her children were old enough now not to need her to protect them from it anymore.

 

Nina just asked if she could come with her.

 

And that had been that. There wasn’t any screaming or arguing or anger. Her father had nodded his acceptance of their choice. His only request that they keep the separation to themselves.

 

“It’s family business, Ninette. Family only.”

 

Paul decided to come with them, walking away from his work with Brainy without explanation, merely turning up to go with them the day they were due to leave.

 

The three of them settled in Canada, Imra saying she wanted to take a break away from all the fighting and problems, and they all tried to settle into their new lives in the country. It was an adjustment at first, living a new life in a new time, but it wasn’t like she had a lot to leave behind. 

 

It was nice in a way, interacting with ordinary people, but Nina still struggled to make friends. Truthfully, she was lost.

 

One day, she walked into the house, dropping her keys in the bowl and looked up with a start to realise that Kara was sitting opposite her mother at the dining room table.

 

“Nina?” The blonde called out, standing to her feet and pulling the younger woman into a tight hug. “Wow, you’re so grown up.”

 

The brunette spluttered against her chest, shocked to be seeing the woman without warning and so many years apart.

 

“Kara? What are you doing here?”

 

The woman let out a laugh, but it sounded hollow.

 

“Anyone would think you’d be happy to see your favourite aunt.”

 

“You’re not her favourite aunt,” her brother’s voice suddenly sounded out. “Lena is her favourite aunt.”

 

Nina’s eyes bugged out, turning to face her usually silent brother sitting in the corner of the room, watching as he looked up.

 

“Paul!” She cried out.

 

The man shrugged and turned back to his book.

 

Nina swallowed, before looking at Kara cautiously.

 

“…never mind. It’s great to see you, Auntie.”

 

The woman’s eyes seemed slightly lost in another time before they lit up once more and she gave Nina a weak smile.

 

“It’s great to see you too,” Kara said, reaching out to squeeze Nina’s shoulder. "When I heard that you’d all bought a house out here in the middle of nowhere, I figured I better see what was going on.”

 

An awkward silence descended, Nina’s eyes darting to her mother’s and the woman gave her a tired smile. She leant back in her seat and took another sip of her tea before speaking.

 

“Paul, why don’t you go finish the project you were working on this morning,” she said to her brother, the man immediately standing and walking out of the room. “Nina-“

 

The young woman cut her off with a wave, eyeing the two older woman one last time.

 

“Yeah… I’ll just… take a walk.”

  
  


==============

  
  


A few hours later, Kara found Nina sitting by the stream near their house, staring out as the water cascaded over the rocks.  

 

“So, how are you going Nina?” The blonde asked, taking a seat beside her.

 

Nina eyed the other woman, taking in her upright posture and her not so subtle attempt probing for information.

 

“So she told you that she and Dad are separated,” she said flatly.

 

Kara took a deep breath.

 

“Imra didn’t say that,” she said slowly in response. “Just that she was… they’re taking a break.”

 

Nina let out a cackle of laughter at the words.

 

“I wish they would just divorce,” she said blankly. “I don’t even know why they’ve stayed together this long. Mom is so badass, and Dad is… well, Dad. You know what he’s like.”

 

There was a brief pause.

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

Nina turned to look at Kara once more, and an understanding passed between them. 

 

They both knew that Mon-El was still partially in love with Kara.

 

“I mean, it’s weird even to be talking to you about it,” Nina admitted. "But I don’t think they’ve ever really been in love with each other. I don’t know... even as a child their relationship was more about their kids, the fact that they’re superheroes than being in love with each other.”

 

The blond woman frowned, a crinkle forming in-between her eyes.

 

“I don’t think…. This life has a lot of strains, Nina. Hero work isn’t exactly low stress, but I’m sure your parents love each other.”

 

Nina turned to look back at the water.

 

“Maybe,” she muttered, drawing her knees up to her chest. "But it’s more of a relationship of convenience. Even as a kid, it was never like you and Lena. I mean, all the two of you had to do was walk into a room and it was like this electric bond radiated off of you. Two halves of the same….”

 

She trailed off and winced, realising that she had probably just dug up a somewhat hard subject for Kara. Nina turned to apologise, her face pale.

 

“Shit… sorry. I didn’t mean to-“

 

Kara gave her a thin smile.

 

“It’s ok.”

 

An awkward silence descended between them, Kara turning also to stare across the water, sun radiating off of her skin. That sat like that, side by side for a few minutes, while Nina scrambled for something to say.

 

Finally, she took a deep breath and decided to go with her gut.

 

“Look, I don’t know everything that happened to you and Lena and… well.” 

 

She took another breath when Kara’s eyes darted to hers.

 

“We’ve been separated by a thousand years for the majority of it. It’s pretty hard to keep up to date on the group messages. So I can’t really… but know my family. We’ve never been…close.” 

 

Nina frowned at the unpleasant feeling in her chest, merely thinking of them.

 

"It just seems all fake and thin,” she spat out, angry. “Nobody wants to feel anything properly, or maybe that’s just the way they feel about me. I don’t know why they have these feelings if they don’t just say it aloud. It’s not a bad thing, and they don’t hate each other, but that it’s just…..”

 

Kara finished her words.

 

“Not working.”

 

Nina sighed.

 

“Yeah.”

 

A few more minutes of silence passed between them, Kara watching her searchingly. 

 

Looking for something in her face and eyes.

 

“What do you want in life, Nina?”

 

The other woman rocked back, shocked by the unexpected question.

 

“I…. I don’t know.” She admitted under Kara’s intense eyes.

 

The other woman looked her over, before speaking in a cautious voice.

 

“Your mom told me she’s started training you once you got here... but you asked to stop.”

 

Nina flushed with embarrassment. For the first time in her life, she had finally gotten her to wish to be trained in combat. Imra surprisingly offering without prompting or explanation the day that they had arrived. At first, Nina had been excited, but pretty quickly she realised she had about zero fighting instinct.

 

Pathetic.

 

“Well I…. I’m not hero material,” Nina admitted.

 

“What makes you say that?” Kara asked with a frown.

 

Nina thought back to all the times in her life where nobody wanted her around, where she was seen as a burden, and even as a surplus child. And the fact that she only ever had two friends, one being her mostly non-verbal brother, and a boy who later turned out to be a terrorist. And both of them were years older than her. She thought back at the lonely years of her life, spent doing nothing but hanging out with her mother, books and avoiding her bullying siblings. The way that her father didn’t ever seem to want her around, and could barely look at her without profound disinterest in his eyes.

 

She had absolutely nothing to offer anybody.

“I’m not the bravest, or the smartest or… I’ve had nothing happen to me. Aren’t heroes shaped by the tragedies of their past?”

 

Kara let out a full-bellied laugh at her words.

 

“Well you’re only nineteen,” she said dryly. “You’ve got plenty of time for tragedies.”

 

Nina winced, putting her foot in her mouth again.

 

“I didn’t mean it like that… it’s just….”

 

She scowled and threw a pebble from beside her and into the stream.

 

“I am the most uninteresting person in the world,” she said flatly. “I’m just lucky enough to have some powers. I’ve only got Dad’s, and I’m only half as strong. Carter is just as powerful as him, and so are Issac and Jean.” 

 

She frowned at her feet, and her voice took on the edge of envy.

 

“Plus, they all have minor psychic abilities. And then there’s Paul, who is just amazing in every way. He’s so smart, and he can throw spaceships with a thought! I don’t exactly measure up. I haven’t done anything with my life, but I still feel like I’m wasting it.”

 

Her favourite brother was incredible. And not just because of his brains and his powers, but because he had the genuinely excellent gift of not giving a shit about what other people thought of him. Nina’s thoughts turned back to Kara, noting that the blonde was looking at her with a fond grin. 

 

“You remind me of me at your age.”

 

Nina’s eyebrows hit her hairline.

 

“I do?”

 

Kara nodded.

 

“Oh yeah,” she admitted. “I was completely lost. I had all this stuff in my head of who I was supposed to be when I landed here. So much history, a whole civilisation to preserve and carry on. And I was supposed to look after my cousin. Then it all got ripped away from me, as fast as it was placed on my shoulders. And I was put with this strange family in the middle of nowhere, and Clark was.... I felt so rejected and unsure, because at the age of thirteen I had prepared to dedicate my life to looking after him, but when he was an adult he didn’t want to do the same for me. I had no idea who I was, what I should be or where I was going. Ever since I landed on Earth, I’d been told again and again not to be different. For my own safety. Pretty soon I began to think I was wasting my life.” 

 

Nina absorbed the words silently, finding it hard to reconcile that version of Kara with the confident woman she was today.

 

“What did you do about it?” She asked.

 

Kara looked up at the clouds and smiled.

 

“I stopped a plane from falling out of the sky. It was just… instinct. My sister was on that flight, and I just had to do something.” 

 

Kara turned to look at Nina once more.

 

“But you know, there isn’t a correct path in life, Nina. There’s no one way to exist. You shouldn’t measure yourself against anyone else. You’re an original work of art, not an imitation. That’s what makes you special, not powers. What’s important, is what’s in here.”

 

She pointed to Nina’s heart.

 

“Be wise, be strong and always stay true to yourself.”

 

Nina felt the prickle of tears form at the back of her eyes at the kind and encouraging words.

 

“That’s… I’ll try,” she choked out. “I just don’t think anybody in my family thinks I can do this.”

 

Kara nodded thoughtfully.

 

“You know,” she answered slowly. “Being a hero isn’t just about lifting planes from skies. Anyone can be a hero. They’re broken and blue and bleeding people who have complicated lives, but despite all that, they try to help others with theirs. It’s the little acts of kindness that really set people apart. And if you’re going to be a hero and prove to everyone that you know what you’re doing, you’re going to have to practice. Start small, get better. But you’ve got to have help and support, don’t do it all alone. Build a small community of people who are there to support you and your dreams.”

 

Nina sniffed and wiped away the stray tears that had fallen on her cheeks.

 

“A community consisting of my mom and my brother? And who am I going to help? The fish in the stream?”

 

Kara shook her head and gave her a lopsided grin that sharply and painfully reminded Nina of Liam.

 

“Why don’t you come to National City?”

 

Nina blinked rapidly, thinking she must have misheard.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

Kara stood to her feet, stretching out, before continuing her words. 

 

“Come to National City. I know we haven’t spent a lot of time together, but I do love you, Nina. You’re still my family and my niece. I’ll look after you. We all will.”

 

Nina was left staring at the woman, ruminating the idea over in her mind.

 

“I’ll think about it.”

 

Kara nodded in acceptance, before launching herself into the sky. 

  
  
  


============== 

  
  


Nina woke up early the next morning after a fitful night’s sleep. She stared blankly up at the ceiling and the shadows cast on it as the early morning light morphed from black to grey, to the edges of purple and golden threads. Even after the past few years spent living in the twenty-first-century, Nina still couldn’t help but feel like she was still living out of a suitcase, the way she had been her whole life. She had always felt like a vagrant in her childhood, that would never change, but even though the emotional pressure had been alleviated somewhat ever since her mom had taken Paul and her, literally a thousand years away from her father and other siblings, Nina still felt adrift. Completely unsure of whatever her life was supposed to be. 

 

The youngest of five, with the least to offer despite what Kara had said.

 

The only way she was going to be anything, is she proved to herself that she could do this.

 

She stood to her feet and made her way to the kitchen, noting that her mother was standing and stretching by the door, ready to go on her daily morning run.

 

“Hey, Mom?” She called out.

 

The older woman looked up at her with a smile and Nina realised that Imra looked happier since they arrived here than she had in Nina’s whole life.

 

“Do you mind… if I come with you on your run?”

  
  


——————

 

A few years later, Nina was storming out of the house after once more getting into a monstrous argument with her mother. For the past six months, Nina had been tossing the idea around that she should go to National City seriously, ready to take Kara up on her offer. To do something with her life, instead of the endless training drills that Imra fought out with her. Imra insisted that she wasn’t ready, that she was far too angry and sloppy and out of control.  Nina might have conceded it was true if she wasn’t so stubborn after she broke what felt like the fiftieth door she had slammed shut too hard.

 

But truthfully, her mother denying her wish reminded her all too much of the ugly feeling of self-doubt that she had grown up steeped in with her family. It had taken her many years of quiet self-reflection to realise that she wasn’t responsible for how her father, brothers and sister treated her. Nina knew she had far more to offer the world than they had ever believed.

 

But she wanted to get out there and do it. Not just stay stuck in the middle of nowhere for the rest of her life.

 

She stalked out the back door and towards her favourite thinking spot, noting with surprise that her quiet brother was already sitting there, leaning against a tree and skipping stones along the river telepathically.

 

Nina sat down with him silently, watching as each pebble took precisely five skips before falling in the water. 

 

She turned to look at Paul, who’s usual stoicism hadn’t dissipated.

 

“Having fun?” She asked.

 

The man shrugged.

 

“Is it ok if I sit with you for a bit?”

 

Her brother looked at her for the first time, his dark eyes probing.

 

“Yes.”

 

Nina had learned long ago not to make a note when her brother decided to speak, just taking it in her stride. At least, unlike most people she knew, he would only talk if he had something important to say. 

 

He was a small man, just a few centimetres taller than Nina herself. With a thin build and dark-hair, Paul was easily able to fade into the background if he so chose. 

 

But he was so incredibly intelligent, Nina often had to wonder…

 

“Why did you come here, Paul? Why did you come with Mom and me to this century?”

 

She didn’t expect a reply to her out loud musings, but her brother gave her one nonetheless.

 

“Because I wanted to,” he answered in his soft and melodic voice.

 

She frowned at him.

 

“Yeah, but why? You’ve been working with Brainy for as long as I’ve known you. Isn’t that what makes you happy?”

 

He nodded.

 

“It does.”

 

Now Nina was confused.

 

“Then why did you leave what makes you happy?”

 

He thought about it for a few seconds, playing with the edge of his jacket before he explained.

 

“Because being away from Dad, Carter, Issac and Jean… and being with Mom and you makes me happier. And I can do all my work from here anyway. It’s quieter too. I like that it’s quieter.”

 

Nina felt a warm glow settle in her heart at Paul’s neutral inflection, the words and idea that Paul felt that way making her feel lighter. Her anger from the argument with her mother dissipated. 

 

“I like that it’s quieter too.”

 

“No, you don’t.”

 

Nina looked up at her brother’s flat words.

 

“What?” 

 

His dark eyes bored through her.

 

“You don’t like that it’s quieter. You like that the rest of them aren’t filling up all the space with their noise. Everything about them is so loud…. So loud that they make everything about them. You don’t like that. You’ve never liked that. But you always liked it when you weren’t with them.”

 

Nina blinked rapidly, trying to recall the last time her brother had said that many words in one go, let alone to her. 

 

“I like spending time with you,” she whispered out.

 

For the first time in her life, Paul reached with his hand and placed it atop of hers in comfort.

 

“I like spending time with you too,” he answered. “You’re my favourite.”

 

Nina felt tears spring up in her eyes and she hastened to blink them away. She knew that Paul positively despised physical contact, preferring to express sympathy by way of actions in other ways. Most often when Nina was a child, by repairing something that she had broken accidentally.

 

“Thank you, Paul,” she choked out, the man nodding in response before removing his hand and resuming his stone skipping. 

 

She had thought that would be the end of the conversation, Paul probably exhausting all his words for the next few months, when he suddenly spoke once more.

 

“You need more friends.”

 

Nina looked at him, surprised once more.

 

“I do?”

 

Paul nodded.

 

“Yes. You’re lonely.”

 

Nina frowned, feeling a pang of annoyance at his blunt words.

 

“You know you tend to make sweeping character assessments about me with little input of my opinion?” She said dryly.

 

The man tilted his head, slightly confused.

 

“Opinions aren’t facts. Facts are facts. You’re lonely. Tell me if I’m wrong.”

 

Nina’s mouth opened and closed.

 

“You’re…. not.”

 

He nodded firmly.

 

“You need to get out of here.”

 

Nina sighed.

 

“Paul-“

 

He cut her off.

 

“You should go to National City. You were always happiest when you were there. You had a friend there. Liam was nice.”

 

After all these years spent with Paul, Nina was continually surprised about how much he observed and noted.

 

“Liam’s been gone for ten years, and he’s a terrorist, Paul,” Nina muttered, trying not to think of that particularly sore subject. “Not exactly a glowing character reference for a friend.”

 

He gave her a confused look. 

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

Nina shook her head.

 

“Nothing, don’t worry about it…. do you think I should go to National City?”

 

The man thought about it for a few seconds, before continuing.

 

“National City is where you were happy last,” he said simply. “Lena and Kara were always nice to you. You don’t have to spend time with any of our family members. You get to learn things. If I were you, I’d go.”

 

Nina stared at him for a few seconds, his words churning over in her mind before she came to a decision and a broad smile grew across her face. 

 

“Paul, you’re the smartest person I know,” she said, standing to her feet.

 

Her brother shook his head in contradiction.

 

“That’s not true. Brainy has a twelfth level intellect-“

 

She cut him off.

 

“No, Paul,” she continued slowly. “You  _ are _ the smartest person I know.”

 

The man blinked, then began to throw stones once more.

 

“Ok.”

 

Nina smiled softly down at him.

 

“I love you.”

 

He nodded and smiled back, the gesture lighting up his face.

 

“I love you too."

  
  


=======

Three days later, after saying her goodbyes to her protesting and unhappy mother, Nina sat on the edge of her chair in the corridor of the DEO, with a duffel bag beside her. Watching her feet as a swarm of agents ran around her, murmuring to themselves. 

 

A bundle of nerves sat in the middle of her chest, a part of her body screaming at her to run away as fast as possible. 

 

When she had called ahead three days ago, Kara had seemed happy enough to have her… but she was sensing a weird tension amongst the agents rushing past her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something had happened.

 

Suddenly, Nina heard the sound of footsteps walking and looked up to see an exhausted looking Supergirl stalking towards her.

 

Nina scrambled to her feet and gave the older woman a nervous smile, but Kara didn’t return it.

 

“Nina, you came at just the wrong time,” Kara murmured out, her words biting and making the younger woman recoil slightly.

 

“I’m… sorry?” The brunette replied.

 

At her tense tone, Kara let out a sigh, and the stress eased marginally from her face. 

 

“No, it’s not your fault,” she said, waving her own distracted words away. “It’s just…. Liam is back.”

 

Nina’s eyes widened in shock at the revelation.

 

“Wh… what?”

 

Kara huffed again.

 

“Long story, but I need to….”

 

Suddenly her words trailed off, and she looked Nina up and down, appraising as if she had never seen her before.

 

Nina shifted nervously as a wide grin grew on Kara’s face.

 

“Why are you staring at me like that?” She asked.

 

The blonde woman let out a low, mirthless laugh.

 

“Because I think I’ve just found you a job.”

  
  
  


======

  
  


Everyone in the room was staring at her, that was for sure.

 

All she had wanted was one day to herself to sort out the tumbleweed of confusion growing in chest regarding her feelings or not feelings or…. whatever they fucking were towards Kia. It had been a trying few months, to say the least, ever since she had arrived in National City, she had learnt more about people, the world and herself than she’d ever thought possible.

 

Nina had grown more as a human being and been tested further than she thought herself capable, but she needed a day. Just one day alone so she could imagine.

 

But instead, she found herself standing in the middle of the DEO hub, her furious looking father that she hadn’t seen in years, standing with his fist raised and ready to punch Liam in the face once more.

 

The older man looked over at her call and dropped his hand, his face becoming stony with rage as he stomped towards her.

 

“You’re coming with me, right now,” he growled out, reaching to grab her arm.

 

“No, I’m not,” she exclaimed with a scoff, pulling away.

 

Her father let out a low and frustrated growl.

 

“Ninette, I swear-“

 

She cut him off angrily.

 

“Stop calling me that!” She spat out, her frustration bubbling over with the man. “Nobody calls me that. I don’t like being called that. My name’s Nina. Call me by my name.”

 

Her dad recoiled in shock at her tone, eyeing her with surprise. A brief pause passed between them and then he moved to grab her arm again.

 

“We’re leaving.”

 

Before Nina could say another word or shift away again, a new arm interjected between them. 

 

The short-haired woman looked up as Kia stepped in front of her, fresh from the medbay and wrapped in a dressing gown as she glared up Mon EL. 

 

“Don’t touch her.”

 

The words were laced with poison and were as cold as ice, an ugly silence growing as Mon-El directed his frown away from Nina and onto Kia.

 

“This is between my daughter and me,” he spat out angrily.

 

A new voice chimed in now, pushing between Kia and her father to create even more distance.

 

“Well you came in here, shouting like a lunatic, so I’d say that it’s between you and the entire DEO by now,” Liam said lightly, a wisp of a smile on his face but his eyes were snapping with anger.

 

Her father’s face darkened at the sight of the man in his field of vision. 

 

“Don’t talk to me, you viper.”

 

A hand grabbed onto the older man’s shoulder now, pulling him back half a step with a firm tug.

 

“Look, you already came in swinging, how about you stop being an ass,” Alex said firmly. 

 

Her father angry face twisted with bewilderment, looking around at the ring of faces staring at him with hard eyes.

 

“What did… has everyone here been brainwashed!?” He questioned before making to push back towards his daughter. “Nina, you’re coming home with me.”

 

Kia let out a snort, blocking in once more.

 

“I told you,” she said slowly and deliberately. “Don’t touch her.”

 

Mon-El puffed out his chest.

 

“Who do you think you are!”

 

Alex and Liam shifted closer, their shoulders tensing and ready for a fight. Nina looked around at the three people, standing in front of her and protecting her and felt a sudden wave of love.

 

And now she knew what she had to do.

 

“It’s ok, Kia,” she whispered, smiling weakly at the protective woman and pushing past her. “I’ll talk to him.”

 

The other woman tracked her warily with her eyes as Nina took a few steps back, gesturing for her agitated father to follow.

 

“We can use the conference room to… talk.”

 

Her dad spluttered behind her but followed regardless. Nina could feel concerned eyes burning into her back, making her spine straighten with every step she took.

 

It was only once they were both inside the room and Nina had closed the door that she began to speak.

 

“Look, Dad…. I know you’re angry with me-“

 

He cut her off.

 

“Oh, I’m way beyond angry,” he growled out. “You and your mother told Carter to lie to me for months about what he was doing here. Your mother asked him to keep an eye on you, and it looks like he’s done nothing of the sort." 

 

His volume rose tenfold, and he threw his arms up in a fury.

 

“This place has completely gone to hell. A terrorist running around the DEO as he owns it? I came here because I…. I wanted to visit you all, but when I arrive, I find out about all of this. What is it about this place? Everything in the Luthor’s orbit burns to a crisp.”

 

The last words were almost vomited out as if he couldn’t even bear to say the name, and Nina found her self control snap totally.

 

“Oh for God’s sake…. Kara is fine!” She shouted, sick of walking around that particular truth. “She didn’t need you then, and she doesn’t need you now. You are the only person who is hanging onto the fact that you dated decades ago. Nobody else gives a shit. Nobody wants you to be their knight in shining armour here.”

 

Her father looked like he had been hit over the head with her words.

 

“Don’t you see what has happened to you out here? You aren’t strong enough to-“

 

“Stop, stop… STOP!”

 

The words rang in the air for a full minute, before Nina calmed her breathing enough to look her quieted father in the eyes.

 

“Firstly, I’m an adult,” she began slowly, trying to word all the things she had been bottling away inside of herself her whole life. 

 

“I haven’t seen you in years. You don’t get to tell me what to do. This is my life. What gives you the right to come here like this? I’m done with you. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. I don’t want anything from you. I don’t need anything from you. I’m not going to be dragged back by my ear to a place that I can’t stand, to spend the rest of my life with a family that barely tolerates me. I can’t live like that anymore.” 

 

Her father stared down at her, his eyes turning to plead.

 

“This family… these people are… they infect everything around them… Nina, I need to get you out of here.”

 

The words sent a stab of rage right down into the centre of her soul. 

 

Her whole life he never cared, and now he wanted to pretend just when she was finally finding her place in this life? 

 

“Don’t talk to me about infections,” she hissed out. "At least their problems aren’t hidden here. They don’t stuff everything down deep inside and pretend like everything is alright when it clearly isn’t. I don’t want to spend another second like that anymore. I can’t. Don’t talk to me about lies. If you care about me at all, you’d see that.”

 

Her father gasped.

 

“How can you say that? You’re my daughter; I love you.”

 

She gave him an incredulous look.

 

“You don’t even know me, Dad. You have no idea who I am. I don’t even know what you see when you look at me. I don’t think we’ve had a conversation one on one for longer than an hour my entire life.”

 

“That’s not true,” he disputed.

 

“You don’t even call me the right name!”

 

He let out a roar at her words.

 

“BECAUSE THAT’S NOT YOUR NAME!”

 

The sound reverberated the glass and Nina took a step back before speaking in a quiet voice, barely audible over her father's heavy breathing.

 

“Stop it. Stop pretending.”

 

He took a step forward, his voice pleading.

 

“You belong with your family.”

 

“THIS IS MY FAMILY!” 

 

He reeled back at her scream, but Nina couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of her now.

 

“Those people out there,” she said with a point. “Are completely fucked up... but they’re my family. Paul is my family; Mom is my family. People that care about me, value me, want me with them. Not people that make me feel more alone than alive.”

 

On the last word, a few tears began to fall down her cheeks.

 

“Nina….”

 

She brushed away his soft word.

 

“What do you want from me, Dad?” She asked, eyes burning. “To sit in a room with nothing to do my whole life? Doing absolutely  _ nothing _ that matters?”

 

Her father stared at her for a few seconds, before he spoke in a calm voice.

 

“Of course I don’t want that.”

 

“Then what?” She exclaimed. “Carter and Issac are your chosen ones. Jean is… Jean. She defused a bomb at seventeen. And Paul is so smart and kind, and thank god he doesn’t place as much value in what you think about him as I do. They’re all so brave and incredible and you let them grow, why won’t you let me do anything? Why won’t you let me  _ be _ anything!?”

 

The more she spoke, the more her father got upset.

 

“I don’t have to explain my actions to you,” he said flatly. "I’m your father. It’s my job to be your parent, not your friend.”

 

She let out a laugh at that, rocking back on her heels and looking at him honestly for the first time in her life. 

 

Nina didn’t see an intimidating man, just someone sad enough to never appreciate her.

 

“You know what, you’re right,” she answered. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. You don’t have to explain-“

 

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.”

 

Nina didn't care anymore. 

 

“Like what? Honestly?” She asked. “Are you upset because for the first time in my life I’m telling you how I feel? Just because your father was a doormat and your mother was a sociopath, it doesn’t make you incredible by comparison. You’ve been completely absent emotionally from my life! And now you want to swan in here playing the protective father? Why? Because for the first time in my life, I’m living?”

 

He turned away from her and stared out of the glass.

 

“Because I am trying to protect you,” he said softly. “I’m trying….” 

 

Her father turned back to look at her then, and Nina was shocked to see that he was crying.

 

“When your mother became pregnant with you, we weren’t trying. Carter was already fifteen, Issac fourteen and Jean thirteen. They all had powers and had been using them since they were small. And then, we had Paul... and after that I….. I didn’t think we could handle any more. At least Carter did what I told me to do, but Issac and your sister have always been wild and uncontrollable. They’re too much like me and not enough like your mother. But you…. you’re all your mother.” 

 

The tears began to fall now, and he took a step towards her.

 

“You’re kind and good and you didn’t have the same level of powers as them. You’re my baby. I didn’t want this life for you. I don’t want this life for you. I’m sorry if I…. I’m sorry that I haven’t been there for you, I just…. I don’t want to see myself in you. I’m not a good person. It’s always been other people that made me a better person. And that’s not you. You’re the type of person who gives and gives until they have nothing left. You think I haven’t been there, but I have a responsibility as the head of the Legion to be more than just a father. I have an entire world depending on me. ”

 

Nina swallowed the lump in her throat at his words, her own eyes burning.

 

“ _ I _ was depending on you! You’re supposed to be my father too. And your excuse is that you were trying to protect me? I was too nice? What the hell does that mean? You were a crap parent to me because I was too nice? Well, what about Paul? Why were you a crap parent to him then, huh? Is he too kind too? Or is it because you are completely unable to handle the fact that you have two kids you never fucking wanted. You didn’t want Paul, because you can’t handle the fact that he has autism and is nothing like you!” 

 

She took a shuddering breath.

 

“And I think you just didn’t want me to exist at all.” 

 

She wiped her tears away furiously.

 

“Well, I’m sorry for being a completely redundant member of the family, but I refuse to be treated like a spare part anymore. I’m my own person; I don’t have to be defined by your attention, or lack of it, anymore. Frankly, I have far too much to deal with here without bothering to think about you.”

 

She moved to walk off, reaching to open the door when he called out in a quiet and shattered voice.

 

“You’re not ready for this, Nina.”

 

At that, she scoffed and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

 

“Because  _ you’ve _ been here for the last few months?” She spoke sarcastically. “I’m a part of something important here. It may not be the biggest role, I may be starting small, but I know that I’m helping. I know I’m helping in whatever way I can. This is who I am, Dad. I’m never going to be anything else.”

 

She didn’t give him a chance to reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know... what you feel? Kudos and Tumblr and comments are all good :)


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again :)

Nina had barely managed to make it through the lobby when her father’s hand grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.

 

Before she could say anything, Kia once again appeared by her side to intervene, this time dressed in civilian clothes.

 

“Hey,” the woman bit out. “Back off.”

 

Mon-El tuned to look at Kia, eyes wide and angry.

 

“She’s my daughter!”

 

Kia grabbed his hand and twisted it back to an impossible angle, making the man yelp with pain.

 

“She’s a person first you insufferable dickhead,” Kia spat out. “And she’s as much a part of our family as yours.”

 

Nina looked at Kia with fleeting happiness, before it faded under stormy clouds. The hero took it in, her jaw locking tight before looking back at Mon-El, relaying his hand and shoving him away.

 

“And we protect our own,” She finished as he stumbled.

 

The man rubbed his wrist before a sneer grew on his mouth.

 

“Since when?”

 

Kia’s jaw tightened, knowing full well that he was referring to the one person she hadn’t been able to save.

 

The one person she’d never be able to get back.

 

“Since fucking now,” she answered coldly, before pointing towards Carter, lingering in a corner with his eyes glued on them.“And you sent that idiot, who's been hanging around like a bad sneak about as useful as a fork in soup.”

 

Nina cleared her throat, bringing Kia and Mon El’s attention back to her.

 

“Kia,” she said with a frustrated expression, her voice sounding hoarse from unshed tears. “I don’t need you to protect me.”

 

She walked off after that, Kia’s concern rising but she didn’t move to follow her. Instead, blocking Mon-El’s path when he tried instead.

 

“If I were you,” she said acidly, raised eyebrow an all. “I’d stay right there.”

 

He scowled at her and tried to shift around her body.

 

“Don’t tell me-“

 

“Here’s the thing buddy,” Kia said, cutting him off with sardonic voice. “I don’t like you. I’ve never really liked you.”

 

She stepped slightly closer, refusing to be intimated by a man her mom once referred to as an ‘overgrown man baby, with a receding hairline’ behind Kara’s back.

 

“But I do like Nina,” she continued with sharp teeth. “And this is my fucking turf. So when I tell you to, and especially when she tells you to, back the fuck off.”

 

He watched her, eyes flickering to the path that Nina had taken to walk away, before making a step backwards.

 

“I’m going to be here, every day until she comes home with me,” he muttered out, venom in his voice as he looked at her with hatred.

 

Kia just stared at him with amusement.

 

“Well, I hope you brought your sleeping bag,” she sarcastically responding, before turning to walk away. “All of ours have bed bugs.”

 

Leaving him fuming behind her, she rushed off as quickly as possible, using her X-ray vision to spot Nina standing by the elevator. In the blink of an eye, she appeared beside the other woman without so much as a gust of wind.

 

“Nina,” she whispered out, drawing the woman’s attention, noticing that she looked ready to fall apart.

 

She reached out a gentle hand, fingers hovering in the air before she let them drop back to her side.

 

“Nina…”

 

The woman rubbed her eyes, looking away and pressed the call button for the elevator furiously.

 

“I don’t… I don’t need your help,” she muttered out.

 

Kia just shifted closer to her side, aware that the walls of the DEO had ears, and far too many gossips.

 

“I know you don’t need it, Nina,” she murmured out. “I just wanted to check that you were ok. Are you ok?”

 

With one final hard jab at the button, leaving the light cracked, Nina turned to look at her with a shuddering sigh.

 

“No… I feel…. I feel stupid,” she muttered out, frowning. “And angry. And sad and…. I feel everything. Do you understand what it’s like?” she murmured. “To carve out a new version of yourself, a new life? All in an attempt to grow so far away from who you used to be because you hate who you used to be? And then… just when you think you’ve done it… little things remind you that you’re a fake. This new ‘you’ is just a mask on the old and crap version of yourself. That you’re just lying to the world about being someone else.”

 

Nina let her eyes slide back to the elevator’s doors as they opened, stepping inside before turning back to look at Kia.

 

“Feeling like…. I don’t even know,” she whispered out.

 

Kia felt Nina’s words hit her in her chest. Knowing exactly what it felt like. 

 

“Nina-“

 

“You lost people,” the woman continued brokenly, looking back at her with despair in her eyes. “You lost Bec. She died. And Liam… he lived through real shit. And Lena and Kara and fucking everyone has had to endure so much crap. Real shit. And here I am, fucked up by the fact that my father… barely tolerates my existence.”

 

Kia couldn’t help the flash of rage she felt in her chest as Nina disparaged herself.

 

“Don’t ever do that,” she said forcefully.

 

Nina gave her a confused look.

 

“Do what?”

 

The lift dinged, and the doors began to close. Kia put her arm up to stop them.

 

“Devalue your experiences,” she bit out, emotion flooding her voice. “

 

You never compare your pain to others, ok? There isn’t a scale for that shit. This isn’t the victim and survivor Olympics. Nobody’s going home with the gold because they had the crappiest life.”

 

Kia struggled for a moment, the words that slipped from her mouths were eerily similar to ones Rebecca had told her long ago. Whispered in the night when Kia had cried herself to sleep, thinking that her brother was going to die.

 

“Your pain isn’t one-upped by mine, or my brother’s or fucking anybody’s,” she continued. “And it never will be. I don’t know what you know, and I feel like an idiot because of it. Because for the past few months, you’ve been everyone’s shoulder to lean on, and I feel like we’re all so self-centred that we fucking forgot that you needed people to listen to you too.”

 

Kia dropped her arm.

 

“I should have been there for you more,” she whispered out. “I’m sorry I wasn’t.”

 

Nina just stared at her with hollow eyes.

 

“It’s not that simple…”

 

Kia looked at her sadly; the elevator doors began to close.

 

“Nina, forget what everyone else wants,” she said finally, watching as Nina’s face disappeared behind the metal. “What do you want?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

After watching Kia walk away from the elevator, Alex let out a groan. Wondering not for the first time, just how exhausted she could feel. Decades in this line of work had taken her toll, physically and mentally. And every day just seemed to compound the fact more and more that it was probably time for her to retire.

 

Though she knew she would be bored out of her mind by day three.

 

Alex turned to look at her nephew, who was still standing beside her with troubled eyes.

 

“Why is it just one drama after another?” She asked with a sigh. “Once, just once, I’d like to come into work, and nobody is arguing with anyone. Just a boring humdrum day, with a few rouge aliens and xenophobes. Just one day.”

 

The man didn’t look at her, his thoughts seeming far off and distracted.

 

“What a life…” he whispered out.

 

Alex stared at him critically for a beat, wondering at his sudden melancholy and hoping that he didn’t bring another disastrous mess to her door.

 

“Yeah….” She said, observing him. “Look, you wanted to tell me something before?”

 

Liam turned to look at her, swallowing as he gave her a tight smile.  


 

“I…. it can wait.”

 

Alex grew concerned.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

He turned away to look out at the balcony and over the city skyline.

 

“Yeah.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Lena braced herself against the door handle, her stomach dropping as her wife took a corner far too sharply, almost sending them careening over a cliff._

 

_“I don’t know why Alex never lets me drive… this is so much fun!” Kara cried out._

 

_Lena gritted her teeth and gave Kara a pale-faced nod._

 

_“Yes…. fun…”_

 

_Kara turned to look at her happily, taking her eyes off the road and making Lena’s heart hammer loudly in her chest.  
_

_“I mean, all you have to do-"  
_

_“Don’t overcorrect… DON’T OVERCORRECT!!!”_

 

_Kara jerked the wheel, the car they’d almost hit letting out a loud honk as they skidded past with barely an inch to spare._

 

_Lena had thought Alex had been exaggerating when she told her that driving with Kara, was like driving with a blind, deaf dinosaur. She had thought that maybe all her wife needed to learn to drive, was to learn with a confident driver who didn’t get easily flustered._

 

_She learnt the hard way that Alex was right.  
  
“Whew,” Kara let out with a carefree laugh, that had Lena looking at her like she was mad. “That was close.”_

 

_The revs on the car began to climb, leading the engine to roar far too loudly and making Lena wince._

 

_“Kara…. shift into second gear.”_

 

_The blonde did as bid, the car letting out a horrible crunching nose that made Lena want to cry._

 

_“Sorry!” She cried out. “ I’m just getting nervous, you know…. but it’ll be fine.”_

_With all her willpower, Lena tried to recount her wedding day and the reason that she had married Kara in the first place. Letting it fuel her patience and tolerance._

 

_“I trust you, Kara…. but…. this is a very expensive car,” she murmured out, fingers pressing into her thigh hard enough to cause bruises as Kara hit the curb with a hard crash, the metal undercarriage screeching._

 

_“I know,” the blonde continued. “It’s your favourite.”  
_

_“That’s right…,” Lena said slowly. “And we don’t want this to turn out like the kitchen incident of ’21.”_

 

_The blonde let go of the wheel and turned to her with an aghast expression._

 

_“THAT WAS ONE TIME!”_

 

_“KARA!”_

 

_The blonde gripped the wheel, and straightened the car once more, stopping them from wrapping around a tree.  
_

_“SORRY!”_

 

_Lena felt a wave of sickness grow in her stomach and she reached up to cover her mouth.  
_

_“….Kara, pull over,” she whispered._

 

_“Lena, seriously I’m fine,” Kara let out with a whine. “I’m a superhero. I have amazing reflexes-“_

 

_“Kara,” Lena bit out harshly. “If you don’t pull over, I’m going to vomit on your lap.”_

 

_“What?”_

 

_“PULL OVER!”_

 

_Kara finally did as bid, pulling over and slamming the brakes. Lena unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out as quickly as possible, barely making it three steps before she emptied her stomach on the dirt. After a few more heaves, Kara holding her hair and rubbing her back, Lena straightened with a wobble._

 

_“Wow… I didn’t think my driving was that bad….” The blonde said apologetically._

 

_Lena grimaced, pressing a hand over her stomach._

 

_“I don’t know…. I’ve just been feeling off all morning,” Lena replied.  
_

 

_“Maybe it was that chicken you ate last night?”_

 

_Lena smiled.  
_

 

_“You ate that chicken,” she replied. “Not me.”_

 

_Kara nodded at the memory as it dawned on her._

_  
  
“Oh yeah….”_

 

_Lena just gave Kara a fond smile, shaking her head in amusement as she began to walk back towards the car.  
_

 

_“Come on then… I refuse to give up on you.”_

 

_Suddenly, Kara reached out to grab her arm and stop her.  
_

 

_“Wait.”  
_

 

_“Seriously,” Lena replied. "I trust you.”_

 

_Kara pulled her back carefully, urging her to be quiet while her head tilted.  
_

 

_“Shhhhh!”_

 

_Lena frowned.  
_

 

_“Wha-“_

 

_Kara put her finger on Lena’s lips, stopping the brunette from continuing. Lena just stared at her with confusion as the blonde tilted her head once more, frowning before her face dawned with wonder as her hand fell to press against Lena’s stomach gently._

 

_“I can hear…. It’s a heartbeat,” she whispered._

 

_Lena’s eyes widened at that._

 

_“What?”_

 

_A beautiful smile grew in Kara’s face.  
_

 

_“I’m going to look.”_

 

_Before Kara could do anything, Lena’s face paled as she let out a shout.  
_

 

_“NO! No x-ray vision!”_

 

_The blonde gave her a wide-eyed look, startled.  
_

 

_“Lena-“_

 

_“It’s bad for the baby!” Lena continued, sudden panic growing in her chest as her own heart started to beat louder and louder._

 

_“Radiation-“_

 

_“Honey,” Kara interrupted with a laugh, grabbing Lena’s flailing hands. “I’m not going to give the baby radiation-“  
_

 

_But Lena wasn’t listening anymore, pulling back to start pacing._

 

_“Oh my god…. I’m not ready for this,” she began frantically. "I mean, I thought I was. We’ve done all the tests, and I’ve read all the books, and you know, I know I said I was ready but… Kara what if I’m a horrible mother? What if I fuck the kid up?”_

 

_She let out a gasp._

 

_“What if I drop it?” She said, horrified._

 

_Kara just watched her with a smile._

 

_“Honey, it’ll be half Kryptonian. It’ll float,” she said reassuringly._

 

_Lena threw her hands up in the air._

 

_“How do you know!?” She exclaimed, her eyes starting to fill with tears in her panic. “For all we know, it could have tentacles!”_

 

_Kara shrugged.  
_

 

_“And then we’d love it just the same.”  
_

 

_“But what if I can’t?” Lena cried out, getting more and more stressed at Kara’s calm facade. “You know, there has to be a point, doesn’t there? What if they turn into an evil mastermind? They're half Luthor after all.”  
_

 

_“Lena,” Kara tried to interject. "They’re not going to be a mastermind-“_

 

_Lena began to cry._

 

_“THEY’RE A LUTHOR!!! Of course they're going to be a mastermind!?” She screamed, her face paling even further as she felt more and more unsteady on her feet.“Oh my god… It’s going to be a Luthor and a Super… This is terrible. What if they go bad? Kara…. I don’t know if I could love a kid that went that bad. I mean… that’s terrible, but they’re also evil? What do I do? I don’t know what to do?”_

 

_Kara reached out to cup her face, stopping her movements and forcing eye contact.  
_

 

_“Well first of all,” she whispered. "You’re going to take a deep breath and stop talking.”_

 

_“I-“_

 

_“Lena.”_

 

_The brunette shuddered and let out a breath._

 

_“Ok.”_

 

_Kara let a few more seconds pass until her wife’s heart began to calm, returning to a regular beat and the colour returned to her cheeks.  
_

 

_“Good…” Kara whispered out, dropping her hands. “Now… firstly, you can’t possibly know that our kid is going to be evil. That’s like saying they're going to be a doctor or a bikini model.”_

 

_The blonde smiled._

 

_“You can’t make assumptions about someone that isn’t even born yet.”_

 

_But the edge of fear wouldn’t leave her mind._

 

_“Yeah, but-“  
_

 

_“But nothing,” Kara cut her off again. “Secondly, you have the biggest heart of literally anybody I’ve ever met. You are the first person that comes to mind when I think of you loving someone unconditionally.”_

 

_A wave of embarrassment filled Lena’s chest._

 

_She was totally ridiculous._

 

_“I’m sorry… I don’t even….”_

 

_She waved weakly, cheeks still wet from tears._

 

_“Yeah,” Kara said with a laugh. “You went from zero to three thousand pretty fast there.”_

 

_Lena’s mind still whirling, she pressed herself against Kara’s chest, and the taller woman wrapped her in a tight hug._

 

_“I just… All of that just came churning out,” she whispered against the blonde’s skin._

 

_Kara laughed lightly, stroking Lena’s hair softly._

 

_“So… obviously we’re both harbouring some fears over this,” she murmured out._

 

_Lena pulled back, looking up at her wife with wide eyes._

 

_“You?” She exclaimed incredulously. “Fears about being a mother? But you’re incredible!”_

 

_Kara stared at her softly._

_  
  
“Yeah,” she breathed out. “But I feel like we’ve been talking about how to get pregnant, and trying to get pregnant, that we forgot that there’s going to be a point where you just are pregnant.”_

 

_Lena nodded, the truth sitting in her chest as she struggled with how she should word what she thought._

 

_“I just… I feel like this is how I’ll lose control,” she admitted._

 

_Her wife looked at her gently, reaching out to trace her fingers over Lena’s cheek softly, absorbing her features.  
_

 

_“Lena,” she whispered out. “You know if you don’t want to do this-“_

 

_The brunette rushed to interrupt her._

 

_“No, of course I want to do this,” she insisted. “It’s just…. A selfish part of me is a little bitter. Because I know that you wanted to be the one who carried them.”_

 

_Kara swallowed sharply, and Lena grew sad. For years they had been trying to find a way to have a kid. And Lena knew that it was one of Kara’s deepest wishes that she could get pregnant. Unfortunately, the realities of Kara’s physiology on Earth was that she was unable to carry a half human baby anyway. The miracle of creating such a baby to start with, harvesting genetic material from two women who weren’t even the same species, was hard enough. But a weak human baby just couldn’t grow safely in a Kryptonian._

 

_Three heart-wrenching miscarriages had proved that._

 

_And although the fear of being a mother, and a pregnant one, even more, ate at Lena’s heart. She wanted to do this, for her and Kara._

 

_“You know I can’t, Lena,” the blonde whispered out. “That’s just…. the way it is.”_

 

_At Kara’s sad face, all the doubt slipped from Lena’s heart. Leaving only love for Kara and their future family._

 

_“I do want to do this, Kara… for you and me,” she answered with a smile. “I want them.”_

 

_The blonde’s expression cleared, a new smile growing as her hand lifted to hover over Lena’s stomach once more.  
_

 

_“Well, that’s good to hear,” she replied, looking up at Lena with permission “Now, can I…?”_

 

_Lena bit her lip and nodded._

 

_“Yeah…..”_

 

_Kara looked down, used her X-ray vision and her smile widened.  
_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lena frowned at Liam after he recounted what had happened that day, chopping vegetables for their dinner she was making that night. Her son was helping her, washing the used dishes as she handed them to him.

 

“Well I hope Nina’s ok,” she said with concern. “Has anyone heard from her?”

 

He shook his head.

 

“Not as far as I know.”

 

Lena gave him a strange look.

 

Liam had been odd all night. Unusually silent as his eyes grew more and more distant.

 

Something was up, but she knew better than to push for information. She knew better than anyone that when she didn’t want to talk, she hated it when people tried to pry her open for answers. Luthor’s didn’t do well when asked to be vulnerable, preferring to ruminate in their problems unless they desired to share them.

 

They cooked side by side in silence, Lena’s thoughts drifting from her son and back to Nina, hoping that the girl who had quickly become a member of her family. She never did like Mon-El, mostly stemming from the horrible months that he and Kara had been dating, and Lena had pined from afar. The man was a complete tool, and as far as she could tell handout grown out of his frat boy stage.

 

He didn’t like her overmuch either, Lena having the sneaking suspicion that he had told Kara more than once that she should leave her, even at the start of their relationship.

 

That and there was always the fact that he was still blatantly in love with her.

 

But Lena had nothing but immense respect for Imra, wondering constantly why she put up with him, and Nina was one of the kindest people she had ever met.

 

But she was hardly in any position to advise about family dramatics.

 

“Mom?”

 

Lena blinked up from the meat that she was cooking, looking at her son with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Yes?”

 

Liam stared at her for a few seconds, before leaning across her to turn off the burner she was using, drawing her concern and full attention.

 

“I never…. I’ve never really apologised to you, Mom,” he whispered out sadly.

 

Lena’s frown deepened, wondering at this sudden change in conversation.

 

“Liam, you don’t have-“

 

“Don’t do that,” he cut her off. “Don’t do that thing were you excuse my behaviour because you feel guilty.”

 

Lena watched him for a few seconds, her thoughts shifting through a series of emotion at his words. And suddenly she felt a wave of exhaustion.

 

“I didn’t use to be this way, you know,” she admitted. “When I was younger everything seemed to be so much… colder. I used to hold myself back emotionally from everything because everyone in my life had hurt me.”

 

She turned her back to her son, eyes drifting to the pictures of her family on the mantelpiece. Taking in the site of her family, and the new photos of her children lining it too.

 

“And for a while, I started to think there was something wrong with me,” she admitted aloud. “Like I was tainted with darkness. It was meeting Kara that changed that. She showed me all the light that the world could have. At first, I resisted it…. at least I tried, but her optimism was just so bloody infectious.”

 

Len smiled to herself, remembering.

 

“She was like me…. like seeing myself through a pool of water,” Lena breathed out. “So much in common, and yet so different. And I just wanted everything she could give me because being with her helped me to realise I wasn’t poisonous. And I never wanted either of you children to feel the way I did. Because the scars that they leave on your soul…. they never really heal. But I suppose I didn’t do a very good job of protecting you. I certainly wasn’t the best mother.”

 

Liam scoffed, stepping forward to pull her into a tight and gripping hug.  


“You were a fantastic mother,” he whispered into her hair. “The best.”

 

Lena felt him shudder, a new tremor in his voice.

 

“I couldn’t…. I couldn’t ask for better parents,” he continued. “Everything that happened… everything that I did was on me.”

 

He pulled back, pain wracking his face as tears filled his eyes.

 

“All on me. Nobody else. It took me a long time to want to accept responsibility for my actions, but I’m ready now. Because the people I hurt, even inadvertently, deserve the truth. And I’ve been an emotional burden on you for far too long. On this family.”

 

Lena’s heart cried for her son. If she could reach into his life, his and Kia’s, and take all the pain and misery from them and give it to herself, she would do it in a heartbeat.

 

“It was my job to keep you safe,” she answered in turn. “I just… I didn’t realise I had to keep you safe from yourself.”

 

He stared down at her for a few seconds, and Lena’s eyes traced his face carefully. After ten years apart, Lena would never grow sick of looking at his face. She had lost her entire family once, through her actions or inaction, letting them shatter and drift apart like leaves in the wind. And she never wanted to experience that again. Ever since he had returned, to her life, the determination to cling on even tighter to them all had filled her entire mind. If she would sacrifice anything for them, do anything for them, as long as they never left her.

 

“Mom,” he replied softly. “You don’t have to protect me anymore. I’ve made you carry around to weight of my mistakes for far too long. You can let go now and finally breathe.”

 

The words stoked the fire of her panic, making it triple in size and pain. Something was wrong, all her instincts were screaming it. The last time she had felt this way, was the day the bombing occurred. Lena was waving off her son in the morning with no clue of the horror that was to be unleashed on all their lives.

 

“What’s going on, Liam?” She demanded. “What aren’t you telling me?”

 

He stepped back from her, looking around the room while he struggled for words.

 

“You know that I love you, Mom,” He asked desperately, starting to cry. “More than….. I love you so much. And I…. the biggest regret of my life is that I hurt you. That my actions led to… all this.”

 

He let out a shuddering cry, reaching up to cup his forehead.

 

“And I know that you’re going to say that I’m not responsible for everything that other people have done since then. But I feel like if I hadn’t…. I may have never dirtied my hands, but I am guilty. Of so many things.”

 

There was something, some action hidden in the words he wasn’t saying.

 

“I am not an innocent man, Mom,” she confessed as if it was the greatest secret of his life. “I’m not even sure I’m a good one. I’ve tried to be better…. as much as I know how. But I’ve tipped the scales very far the other way. And the effects that my actions have caused has been…. well, it’s irredeemable. I’m irredeemable.”

 

He looked up at her, eyes flooded with agony.

 

“I feel like I’m living someone else’s life.”

 

She reached out for him.  


“Liam-“

 

“Please… please let me finish,” he talked over her. “I used to be so sure of who I was and what I wanted, and then I came back. And everything became different. I haven’t earned the kindness that any of you have given me.”

 

She shook her head, determinedly.  


“That’s not true.”

 

He let out a laugh, smiling bitterly.

 

“Answer me honestly, Mom,” he asked. “If it had been anybody else. Anybody. Would you have treated them the same after what had happened?”

 

Her mouth opened, struggling.

 

“I don’t know, Liam,” she admittedly honestly. “I don’t know.”

 

He nodded, swallowing as he looked away once more.

 

“Yeah…”

 

A silence grew between them, and Lena ran out of words.

 

What more could she say?

 

Liam took a beat, before his mouth set into a determined line and he moved towards the door.

 

“Liam…. why do I have the feeling you’re going to do something foolish?” She asked.

 

He shrugged on his jacket before replying.

 

“When I step outside myself… when I look in at myself and I see me, and I don't like what I see,” he answered with an empty voice. “I don't. I may never be a good man or even a better man…. but for the first time in my life, I feel like I can finally be honest with myself and the people around me.”

 

He pressed a closed fist against his chest.

 

“I feel like my heart is infected, Mom. It’s poison to everyone it touches. It’s dead. I’m just the type of person who hurts people, and I need to stop it. Because nobody else can.”

 

He opened the door.

 

“Where are you going?” She asked desperately.

 

Liam's shoulders tightened.

 

“I need to talk to Mama.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Kia had seen better days. Though those days were quickly becoming a distant and fuzzy memory, hidden beneath buckets of alcohol and regrets. And today, she felt even crappier than most. Kia couldn’t remember the last time she had showered, the last few days she’d only eaten junk food, and she’d spent the better parts of her sleepless nights flying around the city, picking up petty criminals and dropping them off at stations a little too roughly._

 

_This time of the year was always the worst. Burning nightmares of Bec screaming for help under a pile of rubble, while her brother just laughed and she had no powers. All she could do was call further and further into the cement and metal until her hands were bloody and bruised, and still, she could never find her. Never see her face again._

 

_She was sure that was why her mother had asked her to come over today. For the past five years, Kara had tried to pry her open as subtly as she could, desperate to somehow be the salve to Kia’s wounds. But there was nothing she could do. There was nothing anyone could do._

 

_At least her other mother kept her distance in that regard. In every sense really. The elephant invariably tinged the time they spent talking these days, in the room that was her brother._

 

_But Kia didn’t want to think about that now. Instead, sitting awkwardly while her mother stared at her with hollow eyes. Kia took in the shallowness of her cheeks, and the exhaustion on her face and felt her concern rise from the depths of where’ve it was currently hiding._

 

_Something was up._

 

_“How…. how are you, Kia?” Kara suddenly asked, her words oddly distracted._

 

_Kia shrugged, not wanting to talk about it._

 

_“Dealing.”_

 

_The older woman let out a breath._

 

_“I just… I haven't seen much of you in a while.”_

 

_Kia should feel guilty. She should, for ignoring her parents and family the way she had been lately. But honestly, it was just more comfortable this way. More natural now than having them constantly looking at her, assessing her in every way possible and trying to probe and prod underneath her hard shell._

 

_“It’s just…. hard,” she said lamely._

 

_Kara nodded, looking down at her fingers._

 

_“Yeah…”_

 

_That made Kia frown._

 

_Something was up._

 

_“What is this about?” She asked._

 

_Kara looked up at her, a tight mask across her face as she tried to contain her emotion._

 

_“Your Mom and I have separated.”_

 

_Kia’s heart stopped in shock._

 

_“You…. What?” She breathed out, a buzzing starting in her ears. “Why?”_

 

_Kara bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling, a tremor in her voice._

 

_“Because…. we decided it was time.”_

 

_A series of images ran through Kia’s mind. Her parent's entire relationship was playing out as if it was on a film reel. Everyone knew that they loved each other. That they would always love each other. Their relationship was the dream one that everyone hoped to have._

 

_“I don’t understand,” she whispered out._

 

_Nothing could tear them apart. Nothing could ever tear them apart._

 

_Kia couldn’t take this. Not ever._

 

_Not now._

 

_Kara just stared at her, secrets hidden before she replied._

 

_“Because, I wanted to,” she sounded out, trying to inject strength into her broken voice._

 

_Kia let out a scoff; her hurt heart doubling in size and pain. If she hadn’t been s self-absorbed if she hadn’t wallowed so much… She would have seen the cracks starting to form._

 

_She could have stopped it._

 

_“You only stayed together this long because of me, didn’t you?” She said, bitter at herself more than her parents. “You thought I was too emotionally fragile.”_

 

_Her thoughts turned to the traitorous pit that was her brother’s betrayal._

 

_“She chose Liam, and you chose me, and that’s the real reason you’re breaking up.”_

 

_Kara shook her head sadly._

 

_“It’s been years, but that’s not the reason why.”_

 

_Kia’s eyes began to fill with tears, and she suddenly felt like a little girl again._

 

_“Then why?” She pled._

 

_Her mother watched her silently once more, and Kia could see the war in her eyes and grew frustrated. There was a reason, something had happened, and for whatever reason, her mother didn’t want to tell her what it was._

 

_“I needed to see if the marriage would work…. and it hasn’t,” she sounded out hollowly. “Your Mom has moved into an apartment, and I’ve moved into my own.”_

 

_Kia felt like she had been hit by a train._

 

_“What about the house?” She whispered, thinking about the family home she had grown up in._

 

_Kara looked down at her toes._

 

_“It’s… neither of us wanted to live there anymore.”_

 

_Suddenly, Kia felt angry again. Angry at the world, but mostly at her parents for doing this to her._

 

_“My God, I’m that person,” she scorned. “CEO’s daughter who’s fiancee was blown up and now-“_

 

_Kara cut her off, for the first time her eye filled with passion._

 

_“No, you’re not that person you’re our kid,” she said firmly, before swallowing and continuing briskly._

 

_“I know this is hard, but I need you to deal with this a little while longer.”_

 

_“So what... so I just… Do I pick a side here?” Kia asked brokenly, the ramifications sinking in._

 

_“No,” Kara said, reaching out to take her hand. “You don’t have to pick a side.”_

 

_Kia just stared at her silently once more, completely lost. She watched as her mother took a deep and shuddering breath before she continued to speak in a firm voice._

 

_“But I need something more from you,” she asked delicately. “People have always been interested in what happens to us, because of who we are as Luthors. And especially now, with everything your Mom has going on at work, I need you to keep our current situation from anyone outside the family.”_

 

_Kia couldn’t believe this. Just because of some stupid merger, she was supposed to pretend like none of this was happening._

 

_“Because it’ll hurt Mom?”_

 

_Kara nodded._

 

_“Yes,” she admitted freely. “And it could hurt us too. I think that there’s a lot of attention. to families like ours and I…, I don’t want to feed that.”_

 

_Kia felt disgusted._

 

_“But it’s lying,” she spat out. “I’m sick of lying. I can’t live with the hypocrisy anymore.”_

 

_“Yes,” Kara agreed with a nod. “And you’re old enough to understand that.”_

 

_The older woman took a few seconds to compose her next words._

 

_“We don’t lie here…. we don’t don’t lie to each other,” she said, gesturing between them. “But when people want to hurt us…”_

 

_Her voice grew cracked, and Kia could see that she was fighting back the tears._

 

_“It’s sometimes all right to not tell the full truth,” she said, eyed filling with tears. “You understand?”_

 

_Kia just stared at her._

 

_“Ma, you needed to protect me more,” she whispered out._

 

_Kara inhaled sharply and suddenly broke down into tears, collapsing in on herself as she cried. Kia felt a sudden wave of panic and shame, and she rushed to apologise._

 

_“Ma, I’m sorry I didn’t mean that.”_

 

_Kara cried into her hands and shook her head._

 

_“No…” She sobbed out, shaking her head. “I love you so much. You didn’t ask for any of this and I….”_

 

_Kia let the emotion pouring out of her mother fill her too, mixing with the pain she felt at losing Bec. At losing herself. At losing the life, she’d had. It filled her up until it was overflowing, and for the first time in years, she started to cry in earnest alongside her mother._

 

_“We’re good… we’re going to be good,” Kara brokenly sobbed, pulling Kia into a tight hug that her daughter returned, tears dampening both of their shoulders._

 

_“We’re going to be good.”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kara didn’t entirely know what to say when her son had turned up at her apartment, drenched to the skin from the rain outside. All she could do was let him in silently, bustling about in her nightgown as she made them both a cup of tea. It was only once they were both settled on the couch and warming their hands around their cups, that he finally started to speak.

 

“I’m telling Alex,” he whispered out. “I’m telling her tomorrow.”

 

Kara felt herself grow cold, her heart clenching tightly.

 

“No,” she retorted sternly. “We agreed not to say anything.”

 

He let his cup drop on the coffee table and sighed.

 

“Mama-“

 

“No,” she said again. “You can’t do that to your mother.”

 

Emotion clogged her throat.

 

“To me,” she admitted desperately. "What good will it do? What will it change?”

 

He took a deep breath before replying slowly.

 

“It’s the truth,” he said simply as if it would be as easy to admit it aloud as breathing. "And I can’t ask you to lie for me anymore.”

 

Kara’s hands began to shake, and Liam reached out to hold them steady.

 

He rubbed small circles on the backs of them, letting out a shaky breath before he continued.

 

“You know me better than anyone here because only you know the full truth,” he whispered. “And the only reason you never said anything was because you should never have covered it up for me in the first place.”

 

She started to cry, hunching over.

 

“I hated you so much for sending me away… but after what I did…. You were never going to trust me again,” he admitted painfully, joining her in tears.

 

“You shouldn’t have trusted me,” he cried out. "If you had turned me in straight away, maybe they never would have used me like that… I was the one who let Tristan into our lives because I was so starstruck by the idea that a guy like that could love me.”

 

He drew in a shaky breath, and she reached out her free hand to grip his shoulder tightly, desperate to disprove his words.

 

“We were all fooled, Liam.”

 

He shook his head, knowing that it wasn’t right.  


 

“You didn’t…. you didn’t fall into a pit of xenophobic scum,” Liam answered. “You didn’t think hateful thoughts and listen as people talked about hunting aliens.”

 

His face clenched with rage. Anger at himself.

 

“You didn’t just sit there and agree with silence!” He half shouted out. “You weren’t so blinded by the loneliness you felt, that you let yourself be taken advantage of…”

 

Liam hesitated, closing his eyes as he breathed out the secret they’d both agreed never to speak aloud ever again.

 

“You didn’t help them kill someone.”

 

The silence was deafening between them.

 

“That’s not what happened,” she replied hollowly.

 

Liam shook off her words.

 

“Yes, it was. And you…. you protected me, and you lied for me,” he continued. “You tried to redeem me. And in the end, even more people died. You should never have helped me then. Maybe then none of this would have happened.”

 

Kara could see the path of his life that he painted. All the death and destruction it had lead too. Creating a deadly explosion so massive, the shrapnel ripped through everyone around him — their family wholly torn apart.

 

But none of that mattered to Kara anymore. At this moment, Liam was all she could see.

 

“You’re my son,” she said quietly as if that was enough to heal all the pain between them.

 

His tears fell faster.

 

“And you never looked at me the same since,” he continued. “I’m sick of pretending and lying. I can’t have them believing I’m innocent when I’m not. I’m the reason he’s dead.”

 

She shook her head.

 

“It wasn’t your fault.”

 

But it was. Kara knew it was true. In her heart, she knew it was true.

 

“Yes, it was,”Liam answered. “I was the one who brought Tristan here. I was the one who helped him with what he had planned. Because I believed him. I believe that aliens were wrong.”

 

His fingers clenched, making his knuckles whiten with rage at himself.

 

“And I ran my fucking mouth. I didn’t know what he had planned… but I should have known better. ”

 

She reached out to pull her broken son into her arms, holding him tighter than she ever had. Not seeing the broken man he was and just seeing Liam as a man.

 

The day he was born, and she cradled him in her arms.

 

The day they’d found out he had cancer.

 

The day she thought she was going to lose him.

 

The day they didn’t.

 

And the day she lost him for real, and the pain as he was pulled away from her with hate in his eyes.

 

“Liam, I just got you back…. Your mother just got you back,” she pleaded desperately, knowing that if he did this, she was going to lose him all over again. “And you’re… you’re becoming a better man. Don’t throw it all away because of guilt.”

 

“I can’t live with this anymore, Mama,” he said with a bitter laugh.

 

 

Liam looked at her through shiny eyes, his face morphing into a twisted mixture of love and pain.

 

“How could I ever think you didn’t love me?” He asked. “How could I ever think that you weren’t my mother? You love me more than anyone, and I never used to understand that… but I do now. I have to do this for myself, but I have to do this for you. I can’t ask you to live with this lie anymore. I love you too much.”

 

Even though the pain of what he was about to do, the words healed a part of her soul that had been broken ever since the day she had lost him. It was filling her up as she once again firmed in the idea that her son still loved her.

 

“Liam… I don’t know what will happen to you…”

 

He nodded, putting on a brave face.

 

“It’s ok. Whatever happens…. at least it’s the truth. Finally.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_They had been in a staring match for the past twenty minutes, ever since the metal door had closed behind them both. Kara used her laser vision to disable the sound and camera’s, making Liam wonder with a snort if she’d have to fill out a report for the damage._

 

_Everything about this shitty place ran on paperwork, after all._

 

_But Liam was quickly growing bored with the silence, eager to move things along so he could get out of this room._

 

_“So… here we are… Kara,” he said with a half smirk, tilting his head and crossing his arms._

 

_She let out a long, low growl, and Liam had to fight his instincts not to laugh. She always did think she was intimidating, wearing her super suit as if it was somehow supposed to impress him. The days of Liam resenting his mother and sister’s powers were long behind him, even though they seemed intent to view him as some leper._

 

_Never mind that he just had to rip a man’s head in half to save Nina’s life. No, Liam was totally evil in their eyes._

 

_“You think you can get a rise out of me,” Kara spat out. “But I’m not the one that every DEO agent has been ordered to shoot on sight if you step out of this room before me.”_

 

_Liam snorted and let out a disparaging laugh._

 

_“Like that will do a lot of good…. regeneration abilities, remember?” He added, making jazz hands._

 

_Her eyes were cold as she looked over him._

 

_“Yes… you seem to have picked up a lot of exceptional skills since you’ve been away….” She drawled._

 

_Liam thought if he rolled his eyes any harder, they might concave into his head._

 

_“Oh yeah…” He began sardonically. “All my fucking choice. I love the fact that I can have my arm ripped off and it’ll regrow in a flash.”_

 

_Kara gave him an incredulous look._

 

_“You want me to trust you?”_

 

_“Honestly,” he replied dryly. “I couldn’t give a shit one way or another if you trust me, Kara. The fact is, I want you to leave me alone.”_

 

_Kara pinched the bridge of her nose._

 

_“Well, we both know that’s not going to be possible,” she muttered darkly._

 

_Liam let out a groan._

 

_“What do you want from me? I gather you’re not ready to believe me yet?”_

 

_She stared at him silently, annoyance crossing her face._

 

_“The investigation has been reopened…” She bit out._

 

_Liam let out another mocking laugh.  
_

 

_“Which is just an excuse to allow me to stick around,” he muttered out, slamming his fist down on the table. “It’s a fucking delaying tactic and everyone with a brain, which admittedly isn’t many people here, can see that.”_

 

_Kara didn’t rise to his bait, refusing to look away from him with her piercing eyes._

 

_“Did you do it?”_

 

_Liam wondered, not for the first time if he was going to be asked this question for the rest of his life._

 

_Maybe he should record his answer? It was always going to be no after all._

 

_“No. No. And no,” he replied. “And in case you ask again, fucking no!”_

 

_She shrugged, her fingers tapping restlessly across the table.  
_

 

_“We both know it was well within the realm of possibility, given your…. history.”_

 

_Liam just stared at her icily. Finally, the real reason she demanded this interrogation to be totally private. The secret that had never been revealed by either of them._

 

_“Oh, you mean the fucking murder I helped unknowingly facilitate and you, very knowingly, helped cover up my involvement with?”_

 

_She let out a yell, zooming around the table so she could stand over him with blazing eyes._

 

_“DON’T TEST ME, LIAM!” She shouted out, the sound vibrations taking the table. “You have no idea what that did to me. And then you dare to hate me because I don’t trust you anymore. I believed you the first time; I wasn’t going to be fooled again.”_

 

_He gritted his teeth but refused to stand as well._

 

_“I didn’t kill him, and I didn’t blow up that hospital,” he insisted._

 

_“You’re not innocent,” she muttered, needing it to be true. “You’re not.”_

 

_He knew her better than she thought he did. Considering that she was so above him, even as the guilt ate away at her soul for what she had done. Kara was just as at fault as he was over what happened._

 

_“Well then here’s the real question… If you want them to all hate me as much as you do,” he replied acidly, “Why haven’t you told them the real truth?”_

 

_She took a deep, shuddering breath and moved back around the table so she could retake her sit._

 

_“That…. will never leave this room,” she said warningly._

 

_Liam smiled darkly._

 

_“Don’t want them to know you’re not so innocent either, do you?” He questioned. “The web of lies didn’t spring from me, Kara. That particular trait can be traced right back to you.”_

 

_When she didn’t reply, Liam’s ire rose, and his lip curled into a sneer._

 

_“It’s easy to act like you’re the hero, that you’re the saviour of this world. That we should all worship you and defer to your divine judgement. But what gave you that right to be a god amongst mortals?” He questioned angrily._

 

_“You weren’t elected,” Liam spat. “You weren’t chosen by the people. You could snap your fingers and cause a tidal wave, and the only reason you haven’t is your ‘moral’ code. The truth is you get fucking off on it, don’t you? Being the one everyone thinks is unpaintable. Much easier to let the darkness run off your back and stain the people you’re stepping on to get closer to the sun.”_

 

_A haunted shadow crossed her face._

 

_“I’m not…. I’m not here to talk about it with you, Liam.”_

 

_He splayed his hand against the table and leaned forward.  
_

_“Just tell me this then. Does it eat away at you?” He whispered darkly. “Thinking that I got away with it? Thinking that you helped me get away with it.”_

 

_His voice dripped with disdain and sarcasm, hoping to inflict as much pain as possible with his words._

 

_“How terrible it must have been for you…. The whole core of your existence, shattered. The only reason any of us are here now, after all. What must that feel like, to think that your son helped kill your-“_

 

_“Enough,” she snapped out, cutting him off. “Unless you want me to throw in prison again.”_

 

_His eyes narrowed._

 

_“You wouldn’t.”_

 

_“I would.”_

 

_Liam shook his head, a new smile growing._

 

_“No, you wouldn’t,” he teased once more. “And don’t worry, I know it isn’t because you love me. It’s because you love her, and you know if you did it she’d never forgive you.”_

 

_They both knew it was right, and it wounded them both. Despite how much they might despise each other, in the end, the one thing they would always have in common was that they both loved Lena._

 

_“What did you do, huh?” Liam asked, questioning. “To make her divorce you, you must have really fucked up. What did you do?”_

 

_She just stared at him quietly, eyes filling with warring emotions, before the tension in the air seemed to break._

 

_“How far back can you remember at Cadmus?” She asked instead, sharply diverting the subject._

 

_Liam sat back, letting it go for another time and trying to remember the painful time ten years ago._

 

_“I remember….” He whispered, rubbing the scars on his chest. “My whole body felt like it was on fire. And I was running. Running so fast.”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was late at night when Kia found Nina, sitting hunched over at a strange bar. The older woman let out a relieved sight the second she spotted Nina, having spent the past few hours praying that she hadn’t fallen into a hole somewhere. Initially, she thought she could manage to give Nina her space, but sitting at home in her dark and empty apartment, she couldn’t get the younger woman off her mind. The realisation that she liked Nina just seemed to sit with her, along with the urge to make sure that she was ok.

 

So after three hours spent trying to get to sleep, Kia found herself flying around the city in search until she finally found her in a dingy backwater bar.

 

She walked towards the woman, noting the considerable number of empty glasses in front of her. Kia slid onto the stool beside her, Nina giving her bleary look with alcohol flushed cheeks.

 

“I think I’ve taught you some bad habits here,” the blonde woman drawled, shifting an empty glass away from her.

 

Nina gave her a wide, giddy smile and wobbled on her seat.

 

“What are you talking about,” she mumbled out. “You’ve got it all figured out, remember?”

 

Kia arched an eyebrow, trying not to smile at Nina’s drunken state.

 

“Well, I know I’ve never said that…”

 

Nina rolled her head, looking at her sideways.

 

“But you do…. you don’t care what anyone thinks about you…. or give a fuck about what your family thinks…. but it doesn’t matter anyway…. Cause everything you’ve ever wanted to do or be, you could always do or be.”

 

Kia took in the unfiltered words, trying to decide whether she should be happy, annoyed or neutral as the younger woman’s words.

 

“Sure,” she said by way of simple reply.

 

Nina let out a loud and cackling laugh, drawing the attention of the room. Kia glared at a few of them until they went back to minding their own business, before turning to look at Nina once more. The younger woman leaned forward, surprising Kia at her closeness.

  
  
“You know, I remember you when I was a kid…. I remember when I was just small, and you were like…. wheeeee…. Just like a burning ball of gas… like a…. a…..”

 

Nina trailed off, eyes drifting to the corner of the room.

 

“Star?” She offered.

 

“YES!” Nina shouted with an excited clap of her hands. “You were a star. Everybody in the whole family wanted to be like Kia…. cause Kia was just so…. Perfect. And Liam…. well you just outshone him in every way possible….. He was spare fucking parts… at least that’s what you thought….”

 

Kia frowned at that, a pang of hurt growing in her heart.

 

“Hey, now….” She cautioned, but the other woman didn’t seem to notice.

 

“And me?” Nina contoured with a snort. “I don’t think you even knew I existed until I came that night when you were sitting in a bar like this…. drinking yourself to death.”

 

Kia let out a breath, knowing that it was hardly her place to lecture anyone on coping mechanisms when it came to handling fucked up families. But still, Nina deserved better than to end up like her. Hollow and empty of all feeling and joy for life.

 

“I thought I was perfect,” she offered dryly.

 

Nina groaned.

 

“You’re not! That’s the worst and best thing about you!”

 

Kia just rolled her eyes at that, standing to her feet and slinging one of Nina’s arms over her shoulder, ready to carry her out of the bar.

 

“Ok, nothing you’re saying makes any sense at all…. I’m gonna get you home,” she mumbled, exaggerating her shuffle for the sake of the other patrons. Not wanting them to know she could carry the smaller woman home in the blink of an eye.

 

“Home…. home…. I don’t have a home…” Nina singsonged out sadly.

 

Kia gave her a sideways look.

 

“Well that’s just not true, is it?” She questioned. "You live with my mom and my brother, remember?”

 

Nina mumbled and frowned.

 

“I don’t like it… all the time. Sometimes a woman needs her own space, you know?”

 

Kia smirked at that, thinking of the time when she was twenty and had used the same line — itching to get a place so she and Bec could sleep together without the fear that someone in her family was going to walk in on them.

 

“Oh believed me,” she drawled. “I know. Why do you think I live by myself?”

 

Nina threw her free hand out, waving it aggressively and knocking a patron’s hat off their head.  


“SO YOU CAN DRINK!”

 

The man grumbled, and Kia gave him an apologetic wince.

 

“Well, yes,” she muttered, kicking the exit open with her foot and carrying Nina out. “That too. But mostly because all of this shit can be too much. You need to take a minute and get your head on straight.”

 

Nina tripped over her feet, Kia catching her carefully and swinging her into her arms bridal style now that they were free of prying eyes.

 

“I don’t want to get it on straight…” Nina mumbled, unwashed by the action. “I just… You have it all figured out, don’t you?”

 

Kia snorted, but the feel of Nina’s warm body pressed into her chest stop her from laughing callously.

 

“Yeah… a bitter, not quite a widow alcoholic who has spent the better part of the last ten years, weighing up if the world wouldn’t be a better place without me,” she admitted freely, unafraid to admit her core truth to a woman who probably wouldn’t remember in the morning. “Giving absolutely the bare minimum to everything I do in life, unless it’s sarcasm and nihilism.”

 

Kia pressed Nina closer, finding some comfort in the heat of her breath.

 

“Definitely got it all figured out.”

 

Kia took off gently into the sky, trying not to jar Nina too suddenly. Rising into the cold air and above the city light, while the other woman failed to notice. A few minutes of silent flying brought some small peace to Kia’s heart, feeling lighter than she had in an age even given the troubling climate and dangerous things that kept occurring lately.  


“Do you think you’ll ever be able to fall in love again?”

 

Kia’s thoughts were jerked out of her dreams at the words, bringing her crashing back into reality.

 

Rebecca’s face flashing in her mind.

 

“I sometimes wished that I never fell in love with her,” she admitted aloud, a single tear slipping down her cheek as she stared u ant the stars. “Because it hurt so much when I lost her.”

 

Nina hummed into her chest.

 

“You didn’t answer my question.”

 

Kia had a suspicion that there was another reason for Nina’s questioning. Something was bordering beyond vague interest. But now was neither the time nor the place to admit that she had feelings for the woman in her arms.

 

“I think… that we should talk about this when you’re sober and coherent,” she whispered out.

 

Nina let out a disgruntled sound but seemed to accept her words.

 

“Can I come home with you?” She suddenly asked.

 

Kia groaned.

 

“Nina….”

 

“Please…. “ Nina whispered, voice broken.“I don’t want to deal with anyone else… You’re just…. you get me.”

 

Kia cursed her stupid heart, falling for pretty girls and always letting them get their way.

 

“Fine. But you better not snore.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Alex walked into her office the next morning, surprised that her nephew was already waiting for her. She took a long sip of her coffee, settling in her seat before she spoke.

 

“So, Liam… what did you want to talk about?” She asked.

 

The man took a few seconds, staring down at his shoes before looking up with a calm expression, his face smoothed out from the hard lines he had carried since he had returned to earth.

 

“I need to confess,” he said quietly.

 

Alex frowned.

 

“Confess?” She asked, her heart sinking. “Confess what?”

 

He took a slow breath.

 

“To a murder.”

 

Alex’s eyes widened.

 

“What?” She whispered, aghast. "Whose murder?”

 

Liam watched her silently before his whispered answer made Alex’s world burn beneath her, knowing that once again everything was going to change in all their lives.

 

“Superman’s.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_As the feed closed with a click of a button, Adam let out a roar and threw an expensive looking glass figurine against the wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces._

 

_Lex watched the action from his chair, unflinching and impassive to the usual display of rage from his righthand man. Adam always did have a temper, ever since Lex had recruited him the man had been angry at the world and everyone in it. He had a bloodlust, compounding by years of training and augmentation._

 

_All designed to make him the perfect soldier alive._

 

_Except for one thing…._

 

_“I can be more than this!” Adam yelled out. “I can do more than this! We’re moving too slowly.”_

 

_His tantrums._

 

_What a waste…._

 

_“Don’t presume to tell me what to do, boy,” Lex answered coldly when the man turned to look at him. “You’re lucky that I’ve let you live this far. Tainted as you are….”_

 

_Adam’s lip curled with anger._

 

_“I’m not tainted,” he bit out._

 

_Lex didn’t bother to reply. Instead, turning to look back at the console in front of him, weighing and measuring the video he had just with critical eyes._

 

_Nearly two decades of planning and finally all the pieces were falling into place._

 

_“You’re not the boss of me, Lex.”_

 

_The older man’s biggest regret in life was his need to rely on loose canons._

 

_“I am,” he answered, turning back to look at the younger man._

 

_“I am not your puppet!”_

 

_Lex stood to his feet, even though Adam stood taller than him, the older man’s presence dwarfed him easily.  
_

 

_“You will do what I tell you when I tell you, or you will be terminated,” He said coldly, green eyes as sharp as ice. “There’s nothing else to discuss.”_

 

_He waited until the other man’s jaw tightened and gave him a sharp nod, before settling back into his chair and proceeding to type furiously._

 

_“Besides… Soon, you won’t have anything to fret about.”_

 

_Adam crossed his arms and frowned, temper dissipating but still simmering beneath the surface._

 

_“What do you mean?” he asked._

 

_Lex thought for a pause, before replying._

 

_  
“My source told me that he has finally admitted to Superman’s death.”_

 

_Adam raised an eyebrow in surprise, but a sly smile grew on his face._

 

_“Well, we both know he had nothing to do with that,” the younger man replied._

 

_Lex waved the words away._

 

_“Semantics… but you know what will happen next,” he continued, clicking and sending off the encrypted message. “My sister is all too predictable.”_

 

_Lex leaned back in his chair once more, taking in Adam’s figure appraisingly. The man positively vibrated with cancerous and brimming anticipation for the blood that was soon to be spilled. Like a dog, Adam was addicted to the death and pain he dealt out on the world._

 

_And right now he was starved._

 

_“How long till I get to kill the Kryptonian bitch?” He growled out._

 

_Lex tossed up the figures in his mind, eyed drifting to the self-portrait he had hanging on the opposite wall, taking in his features._

 

_“Soon…. very soon,” he replied, deliberately slow._

 

_Adam’s fist pounded against the mahogany table.  
_

 

_“I’ve sacrificed everything just to kill her,” He spat out cruelly. “But not before I’ve made her watch as I tear all that she loves limb from limb before her. And nobody will be able to save her.”_

 

_Lex began to lowly hum, for the first time his smile growing._

 

_“Don’t worry, my child… The best revenge is still to come.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been building up to that for a year now, let me know if the Superman reveal was worth it! 
> 
> Kudos, subscribe, comment and follow me on Tumblr. I love to read your comments, messages and reply! Absolutely makes my day :) 
> 
> Link for my Tumblr is in my profile :)


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